442 WRENS, THRASHERS, ETC. 



wing, if they do not get out of sight before the horse gets started, 

 though they have many advantages in a country where a horse is 

 liable to fall into badger holes and kangaroo rat dens or come to 

 deep washouts too wide for a jump. VERNON BAILEY. 



712. Toxostoma crissale Henry. CRISSAL THRASHER. 



Adults. Bill long, sharply curved ; upper parts dark grayish brown ; 



wings without bars ; tail faintly tipped 

 with rufous ; throat and malar stripe 

 white, in contrast to dark fawn or 

 grayish under parts ; under tail coverts 

 dark rufous. Young: similar, but 

 Fig. 5GT. more rusty above, especially on rump 



and tips of tail feathers ; lower parts 



more fulvous. Length : 11.40-12.60, wing 3.90-4.10, tail 4.80-6.40, exposed 

 culmen 1.20-1.50. 



Distribution. Breeds in the southwestern United States from western 

 Texas to California, and from Utah and Nevada to Lower California. 



Nest. In bushes or desert willow, made of coarse twigs, lined with 

 strips of plant bark. Eggs : 3, plain pale bluish green. 



The crissal, or red -vented thrasher, lives on the rough sides of 

 rocky canyons, where there are junipers and low mesquites. In 

 fall he is said to eat juniper berries and other small fruits, and then, 

 food being plentiful, has a distinct revival of his powerful song. 

 Though ordinarily shy, individuals come about ranches and become 

 quite tame. (See The Auk, iii. 292.) 



GENUS HELEODYTES. 



General Characters. Length about 8 ; tail broad, with wide feathers ; 

 tarsus scaled behind ; rictal bristles obsolete or very indistinct. 



KEY TO ADULTS. 



1. Belly lightly marked with linear spots couesi, p. 442. 



1'. Belly heavily marked with ovate spots bryanti, p. 443. 



713. Heleodytes brunneicapillus couesi (Sharpe). CACTUS 



WREN. 



Adults. Throat and breast white, heavily marked with blackish ; pos- 

 terior under parts buffy, lightly 

 streaked with blackish; supercili- 

 ary white ; upper parts brown, 

 feathers of back with white mesial 

 - 568. streaks ; tail with middle feathers 



bro.wnish, barred with black, the rest black with white subterminal band. 

 Young : similar, but streaks on back less sharply defined, spots on under 



