4 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 



merous, secured a score or more sets of eggs, and examined many that 

 I did not take. My observations are so much at variance with the de- 

 scription of these nests in the " History of North American Birds ", by 

 Baird, Brewer and Eidgway, that I wiU quote from these authors before 

 giving my experience. "Their nests are usually a mere platform of 

 small sticks or coarse stems, with little or no depression or rim, and are 

 placed in low bushes, usually above the upper branches." 



I found none without a lining, either of grasses, Spanish moss, fine 

 roots, or bark. There was a marked depression in every nest, the de- 

 pression varying from one inch to two and one-half inches. Of those 

 taken, the lowest was four feet from the ground and the highest some 

 eight feet, averaging, I think, five and one-half feet. I found their nests 

 in a variety of places — prickly-pear cactus, Spanish bayonet, chaparral, 

 and most commonly in the dense undergrowth under the heavier timber. 

 I saw no nest of this bird in an exposed position "above the upper 

 branches". Its usual position is in the very heart of the tree or plant 

 selected, and, like most of the nests of this region, not capable of being 

 detached from the thorny bushes without falling to pieces. I found the 

 birds and nests of only three Thrushes, viz : Ji. ijolyglottus, Mocking- 

 bird ; H. Gurvirostris, Curve-billed Thrush; and the one now under con- 

 sideration ; and I doubt very much the ability of any one ordinarily to 

 tell one nest from the other, either by structure or position. The usual 

 complement of eggs is four; in fact, I found but one clutch of five. The 

 eggs are marked very much like those of JBT. rnfus (Brown Thrush), and 

 ara hardly distinguishable from them. The typical egg has a ground- 

 color of the faintest greenish-white, and is finely speckled all over with 

 brown, the dotting being thickest at the larger end. Several sets were 

 obtained with the ground-color yellowish-white, and so thickly speckled 

 as to have a general color of ochre. One set is nearly pure white, speck- 

 led thickly only in the form of a wreath at the larger end, otherwise 

 very sparsely and faintly marked. The shape is usually uniform, like 

 all the Thrushes'; but I have one egg shaped exactly like a Quail's egg. 

 The largest egg was 1.12 by 0.84, and the smallest 1.01 by 0.75. The 

 average length was 1.07, and breadth 0.78. 



134— 9 —11.62 X 13.50 x 4.12 x 4.7r). Apr. 2, Brownsville. 

 297— $ —11.50 X 13.25 x 4.00 x 5.00. Apr. 29, Hidalgo. 

 383— 5 —11.00 X 13.00 x 3.85 x 5.00. May 6, Hidalgo. 



Harporhynchus curvieostris, [Sw.) Cab. — Curve-Ulled Thrush. 



This Thrush, though frequently seen, is not so common asH. longlros- 

 tris (Long-billed Thrush), and is readily distiuguished from it. I did not 

 meet with it until we reached Brownsville, on March 20th. The very 

 first day at that place, it was seen about the brush-fences just outside of 

 the city. The bird is very retiring in its habits, never more than one or 

 two being seen together, and even less inclined losing in exposed places 

 than its near relative, S. longirostris. I do not remember hearing its 



