LECONTE’S THRASHER. 67 
Fi EIN AIRS OE IE ES ALPES REIS CIE SES, Ra GR SG Re eS tat Oe I I i man nt tS alo cate ah aged alrite ee ee 
LECONTE’S TARASHER. 
Harporhynchus lecontei Bonar. 
This very interesting Thrasher is an inhabitant of the dry regions of southern 
Arizona and California. In the Colorado Desert, it was observed by Mr. F. Stephens, 
and Dr. E. A. Mearns found it rather common in certain localities in southern Arizona. 
Like other species of the genus, it is an excellent ’songster, and moreover shows no in- 
clination to mock other birds. . 
“Any one,” says Dr. Mearns, ‘who. traverses the desert between Phoenix and 
Maricopa, will probably catch sight of at least one of these pallid Thrashers, but may 
consider himself fortunate if he captures a single specimen. It was in this uninviting 
region that I first saw Leconre’s THRASHER. — The ride from the Gila River to Mari- 
copa, on March 30, 1885, was through a desert, bordered by distant foothills, along 
the base of which are forests of giant. cacti, some of which were found along the road. 
A sluice of the Gila was crossed a few miles from the river, along which were some 
cottonwoods and a quantity of tulé', and cat-tails; also plenty of green grass in which 
Meadow Larks, and Thrashers of some species, were singing, the latter in mesquites. The 
rest of the country was bare of grass, sandy, and covered with scattered sage-brush and 
cacti*, with occasional bare areas of white sand, where the sun’s reflection was terrible. 
A rare squirrel? was here abundant; and all our superfluous energy was expended early 
in the day, which was intensely hot, in capturing some of them. As we rode along in 
the condition of stolid indifference to everything, which ensues after the limit of human 
endurance is reached, numberless lizards and horned toads of varied hues sped unheeded 
from our trail, until the orderly riding behind me exclaimed: ‘Doctor, what are they?’ 
and pointed with his carbine to a pair of whitish birds upon the sand, with their tails 
cocked up over their backs, which I saw at a glance were Leconte’s Thrashers. This 
pair were the only ones seen that day. They ran and hid with as much agility and 
cunning as the Chaparral Cock. As I pursued them, some large white lizards scuttled 
into their holes at a side of a:‘sandy arroyo, which, in the glare of the sun, resembled 
the Thrashers, than which they were scarcely more fleet, both running before me with 
great speed, and disappearing from view. They seldom arose from the ground, and then 
only skimmed over the brushwood a little way, and then ran swiftly on in zig-zags, 
amongst the bushes and cactuses.... On April 1, we marched from Maricopa to Casa 
Grande. As before, the Thrashers were heard singing during the early morning. Their 
song is remarkable for its loud rich tone, and is at least as fine as that of any other of the 
genus.... On April 3, after passing the foot of Picacho Peak—a high castellated butte 
to the right, which for several days had been a prominent landmark—we rode through 
a grove of ‘sohuaras’*, among which were many arborescent cacti, in which were found 
the nests of all three of the desert species of Thrashers. That of H. lecontei was built 
ina cholla cactus seven feet from the ground. It contained one egg, having a ground- 
color of bluisi-green of a deeper hue than in Palmer’s Thrasher, sparingly spotted all 
over with brown and lavender, the spots largest on the great end, where they tend 
to accumulate and form a wreath near that extremity. This is the most eastern point 
1 Scirpus. 2 Opuntia, Echinocereus, Cereus, and Echinocactus. 8 Spermophilus tereticaudus. 4 Cereus giganteus. 
