The Palmer Thrasher 
which he explores,—log-heaps, stone-piles, crannied walls, labyrinths 
of roots undermined by a stream, stemmy jungles, tangled vines, rain- 
fretted gullies, and all the infinite disarray of nature. And the plucky 
bird charges into some cavern, dark with nameless terrors, as though 
it were a nesting-box, and he exorcises all its dank ghosts with a merry 
clink clink, which is sunshine itself. Now and then he does make amazing 
discoveries, which he reports in a sudden explosion of clinks. After 
such a passage, it is moments on end before he gets calmed down enough 
to clink coherently. In and out, down, around, across and under—who 
would not envy the happy diversity of this midget’s daily round! 
The Auburn Canyon Wren nests almost anywhere, in crannies 
of rock-walls or about upturned roots on mossy banks, or about old 
buildings. It does not favor holes in trees, as do House Wrens and 
Bewick Wrens; and it doesn’t seem to care a bug about water. If the 
cranny is big enough, the Wren will lay a foundation of sticks; but 
if not, it has sense enough to forego these Troglodytine talismans. The 
nesting cup proper is wonderfully compacted of all soft substances,— 
mosses, cocoons, spiders’ nests, caterpillar-silk and spider-webs. The 
finished hollow is as soft as a baby’s cheek, a monumental tribute to the 
tireless skill of the builder. 
The nest whose owner is pictured on p. 692 occupied a rounded cranny 
in a weatherbeaten rock overlooking a travelled road, and not above five 
feet from it. On the 1st of May it held five eggs; but its mistress, when 
disturbed, returned presently lugging a huge stick. She was just thinking 
about building, you know. But she dropped the bluff, along with the 
stick, under a friendly gaze, and after a few feints she resumed her place 
upon the eggs, clinking , softly, like a watch dog rebuked but unconvinced. 
No. 139 
Palmer’s Thrasher 
A. 0 . U. No. 707a. Toxostoma curvirostre palmeri (Coues). 
Synonym.— Western Curve-billed Thrasher. 
Description. —Adult (sexes alike): Above plain hair-brown (wearing or bleach¬ 
ing to drab), shading on sides, and maintained across breast as broad fan-shaped spots 
on a lighter ground; chin and upper throat immaculate white or buffy white; crissum 
cinnamon-buff; lateral rectrices lightly or scarcely tipped with whitish. Bill and feet 
blackish; tarsi brown. Length of males about 254 (10.00); wing no (4.33); tail 118 
(4.65); bill 32 (1.26); tarsus 33 (1.30). 
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