THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



A Nest of Palmer's Thrasher. 



To the Editor of The Nidiologist: 



DEAR Sir: A fine electrotype showing 

 the nesting site of Pahiier's Thrasher 

 (Har/yorhyiu/ms curiirostris pahneri) 

 has been loaned to me for publication, 

 through the kindness of Mr. Herbert 

 Brown of Tucson, Arizona. It was origin- 

 ally intended to appear with an article on 

 "The Habits and Nesting of Palmer's 

 Thrasher, in Zoe, an extinct biological 

 journal. I know of no more appropriate 

 medium than your excellent paper to pre- 

 sent it to Oologists. 



Mr. Brown's long residence in Arizona 

 and his careful and accurate studies of the 

 birds of Arizona make the following extract 

 from his pen an excellent accompaniment 

 to the plate. 



Yours respectfully, 



Walter E. Bryant. 

 • Oakland, Cal. 



Southern Arizona, notwithstanding its 

 great mountain chains, if viewed from an 

 elevated position, presents the appearance 

 ofa vast plain that ends only where the 

 horizon seems to touch the earth, with here 

 and there a mountain range small in com- 

 parison with the surrounding plain, set 

 down upon it. Between the mountains lie 

 immense mesas and valleys, as a whole, 

 timberless and waterless, but covered with 

 nutritious grasses, great cacti belts and 

 other vegetation of curious growth. Here 

 then is the home of pahneri, and in the 

 cholla. beset with countless spines, it builds 

 its nest and rears its young. This class of 

 cacti, of which the foregoing cut gives but a 

 faint conception of its terrors, is virtually 

 impenetrable to man and beast. Ten rail- 

 lion of cambric needles, set on hundreds of 

 loosely-jointed spindles, woven so closely 

 together as to apparently defy the penetra- 

 tion of a body however small, but the 

 Thrashers go in and out and up and 

 hrough them with the ease of water run- 

 ning through a sieve. In some convenient 



fork, on a hmb against the bole of the bush, 

 or in a cavity formed by the pendent stems 

 of the plant, the nest is most commonly 

 built. All the spines in the vicinity of the 

 nest are pulled off for the better protection 

 of the young. This does not, however, al- 

 ways save them, as I have found them, 

 once in a while, tangled and dead in the 

 terrible burs. , 



The external nest of Palmer's Thrasher is 

 made of thorn twigs averaging in length 

 about eight or nine inches, seldom shorter 

 but frequently much longer. Almost in- 

 variably they are lined with a species of 

 wire grass, but sometimes they go astray 

 and use other materials. In external depth 

 the nests var}- according to the whims of the 

 bird and the requirements of the site 

 chosen, but generally they average from 

 seven to ten inches. The inner cavity at its 

 greatest width near the top measures from 

 four to four and one-half inches, bottom one- 

 half an inch to an inch narrower, rounded 

 or flat, and from three to three and one-half 

 inches deep. However sparsely the walls 

 .of the nest may be lined, the bottom is al- 

 ways thickly padded with dried grass, into 

 which the eggs frequently sink one-half 

 their depth, and in this condition hatch. 

 There are, of cour.se, many exceptional 

 nests. Some remarkable for the oddity of 

 their construction, others for their bulki- 

 ness, and still others for the flimsy manner 

 in which they are put together. Have 

 many records of such; a few instances, how- 

 ever, will suffice to show the peculiar ideas 

 of the birds when they depart from their 

 usual seven by ten building. One nest was 

 built on the ruins of three others, and prob- 

 ably represented as many successive broods, 

 and gave the interior of the cholla the ap- 

 pearance of having been solidly filled in with 

 dead sticks. Exterior diameter of nest 

 twenty inches, depth thirty-six inches, 

 cavity acro.ss the top four and one-half 

 inches, bottom three inches, depth six 

 inches, but lined only about four inches up 

 with baling rope, hog bristles and grass. A 



