No. 3.] 



SENNETT ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF TEXAS. 



373 



as insects and larvce. During its mating season it sings as well as our 

 Brown Thrush. Eesults of last trip, seven birds and forty-five sets of 

 eggs. 



Lomita 

 ....do . 

 ....do . 

 ...do . 

 ....do . 

 ....do . 

 ....do . 



4. Haeporhynchus cuevieostkis (Sw.) Cab. — Curve-Ulled Thrush. 



This Thrush, by some called the " Gray Curve-billed," reaches into our 

 southern border from Mexico. Its nearest relative, Palmer's Thrush 

 (var. palmeri)^ and other curve-billed forms of the genus, are found in 

 the higher altitudes of New Mexico and Arizona. The nortlieru limit of 

 this Thrush is not fully determined, but it can be considered com- 

 mon in Southern Texas, and most common between Fort Brown and 

 EinggOid Barracks, along the river. Here great alluvial deposits ^vo- 

 duce berries and insects in abundance for food, and tangled thickets, as 

 well as great prickly-pear cactuses, afibrd cover and breeding resorts. 

 In 1877, I collected from Hidalgo dov/n to near the mouth of the river. 

 On this trip I collected most of the time at a point several miles above 

 Hidalgo, in the heart of the greatest growth of timber to be found on the 

 river; and it was there that I found the Cui^ve-billed Thrush more 

 numerous than ever before. In point of numbers it nearly equalled the 

 Mockingbird and Long-billed Thrush. The three species comprise all 

 the representatives of the family observed by me during the trip. 



The Curve-billed Thrush in color somewhat resembles the Mocking- 

 bird, and in the bushes, where other characteristics are not readily 

 distinguished, may be taken for it at short range. This species, like 

 the Long-billed, is usually more fond of dense cover than the ]^Joeking- 

 bird, and while not often found, in the heaviest timber, yet will be found 

 in the thickets common on the edges of such tracts. In open wood- 

 land, where clumps of tall thorny bushes and cacti surround the scattered 

 trees, it is always found, and usually in company with the Long-billed 

 Thrush. I did not obtain many fresh-plumaged specimens. By the 

 1st of April, vhe plumage becomes fiided and worn; and, by the latter 

 part of ]May, moulting begins. About this time, also, the small blade 

 fruit or berry of the como-tree, upon which the bird feeds, ripens, and 

 it becomes almost impossible to shoot and prepare a specimen without 

 the plumage becoming stained with the purple juices which issue from 

 the mouth and vent. I brought home only five birds, but over forty 

 sets of eggs. 



In nesting, the habits of this species vary to suit the locality. In dis- 

 tricts where chaparral covers the country, there is no respectable 

 growth of timber, but now and then openings, principally occupied by 



