Brewster on a Collectiofi of Arizotia Birds. 69 



550. (J ad.. Camp Lowell, June 20. Length, 10.20; extent, 14.10; wing, 

 4.40; tail, 5.20. '"Iris golden brown; bill and legs black." 



6. Harporhynchus bendirei Cozies. Bendire's Thrasher. 

 — Mr. Stephens' notes contain few references to this species, and 

 judging from the limited number of specimens which he ob- 

 tained, it must be less abundant in Arizona than either U. 

 crissalls or H. curzHt'ost7'/s palmeri, a status which is in 

 strict accordance with Mr. Henshaw's experience. About half 

 of the skins collected during the past season are labeled either 

 Camp Lowell or Tucson, while the remainder were taken at 

 various points directly north or soutli of the latter place, and 

 not over twenty-Hve miles distant in either direction. Outside 

 the limits of this desert region the bird was not anywhere 

 met with, although it was common at Phoenix in February, 1S80. 



A nest taken June 16 near Tucson, and identihed by the cap- 

 ture of one of the parent birds, was placed in a "cat-claw 

 mesquite " at a height of about five feet from the ground. It is 

 a deeply-hollowed, smoothly-lined structure, composed of fine 

 gi'asses and soft, hemp-like vegetable fibres, which are protected 

 externally, in a manner common to the nests of nearly all Thrash- 

 ers, by a bristling array of interlaced twigs and thorny sticks. The 

 interior cup measures two inches in depth by three in width. 

 The two eggs which it contained, like those described by Dr. 

 Coues. are readily separable from eggs of H. pahneri by their 

 grayish-white instead of dull green ground-color. They are 

 faintly marked with reddish-brown and lavender, the spots being- 

 confined chiefly to the larger ends, wiiere many of them assume 

 the character of blotches or dashes of color. These eggs 

 measure respectively r.o2X-79 inid .96X.79- The greatest 

 number of eggs found in any of the several nests examined by 

 Mr. Stephens was three, but two seemed to be the usual com- 

 plement. 



Of the birds before me four are in first plumage, a stage which, if I am 

 not mistaken, has never been previously examined. The first of these 

 (No. 426, twenty-five miles south of Tucson, May 22) was unable to fly, 

 and was teken from the nest. It differs from the adult in the following 

 particulars : The upper parts, with nearly the same ground-color, have a 

 tinge of reddish-brown which, on the rump, wing-coverts, and tips and 

 outer webs of the primaries and secondaries, shades into brownish- 

 chestnut. The sprouting rectrices are also tipped with the same color. 

 The under parts generally are warm fulvous, which becomes nearly pure 

 cinnamon on the sides and crissum, and along the median line pales to 



