40 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



west. It first appears as a bird of the valley of the Ilio Grande, and extends 

 from thence southward through Eastern Mexico to Cordova and Orizaba. In 

 Arizona it is replaced by //. 2)iu'))icri, IT. /cronfci, and ff. crissa/is, in Cali- 

 fornia by If. rcdirirns, and at Cape St. Lucas by H. cineyrus, while in the 

 United States east of the Iiocky Mountains it is represented by its nearer 

 ally If. rnfus. 



Habits. The eggs of this species are hardly distinguishable from those 

 of the common Brown Thrasher {H. ri'J)(s), of the Atlantic States. The 

 color of their «.TOund is a gi'eenish-white, which is thickly, and usually com- 

 pletely, covered with fine markings of a yellowish-brown. They have an 

 average length of 1.13 inches, ])y .79 in breadth. So far as I have had an 

 opportunity of observing, they do not vary from these measurements more 

 than two per cent in length or one per cent in breadth. Their nests are 

 '=!ually a mere jdatform of small sticks or coarse stems, with little or no 

 '^sion or rim, and are placed in low bushes, usually above the upj>er 

 branches. 



In regard to the distinctive habits of this species I have no information. 



Harporhynchus cinereus, Xantus. 



CAFE ST. LUCAS THSASHEB. 



Harporlnnrrhus cinrrcua, Xaxtis, Pr. A. N. Se. 18oi>, 298. — Baird, IK, .303 ; Review, 46. 

 — ScLATEU, ratal. 1801, 8, no. 49. — Elliut, Illust., i. pi. i. — ('txu'EU, Hirils Cul. 1. 

 19. 



Sp. Char. Bill as loni; as tho head ; all the lateral outlines frently decnrved from the 

 base. Bristles not very conspicuous, but reachinir to the nostrils. "Winj^s considerably 

 shorter than the tail, nuieh rounded. First primary broad, nearly half the lenjrth of the 

 second ; the third to the seventh quills nearly equal, their tips fonninjr the outline of a 

 jrentle curve ; the second quill shorter than the ninth. Tail considerably jj:raduate<l, the 

 lati'ral feathers more than an incii the shorter. Lejrs stout; tarsi longer than mirldle toe, 

 distinctly s<Mitellate, with seven scales. 



Above ashy brown, with perhaps a tinire of rusty on the rump; beneaih fulvous-whito, 

 more fulvous on the flanks, inside of wiujr, ajid crissum. Beneath, except chin, throat, 

 an<l from middU; of abdomen to crissum, Avith well-de(hied V-shaped spots of dark brown 

 at the ends of the feathers. ' rtrest across the brea,st. Loral reirion hoarv. Win«?s with 

 two narrow whitish bands across the tips of prreater and middle coverts; the cpiills e«ljred 

 externally with paler. Outer three tail-fer.Uiers with a rather obsolete white patch in the 

 end of inner web. an<l across the tips of the outer. 



Sprinjr specimens are of rather purer white beneath, with the spots more distinct than 

 as described. 



Len^rth of 12,900 (skin), 10.00; wiuL'. 4.10; tail. 4.05; first primary, 1.00; second, 

 2.r>0; bill from irape, 1.40, from above, 1.1'), from nostril, .90; tarsus, 1.20; middle toe 

 and claw, 1.12 : claw alone, .'M). 



IIab. Cape St. Lucas, Lower California. 



Tliis species is curiously similar in coloration to Orcoscopfr.'i mnntnnus, from 

 which its much larger size, much longer and decurved bill, and the gradu- 



