The Crissal Thrasher 
Near its nest, however, Leconte Thrasher is the soul of discretion. 
It slips away from its eggs like a wraith, and unless incubation is far 
advanced will not be seen again. At the best, a mellow call note, whooit, 
or kooik kooik , will be heard in the offing, now on one side and now on 
the other. The nest, oftener than otherwise, occupies the very center of 
a cholla cactus at an elevation of two or three feet, and how the bird itself 
escapes injury in passing and repassing that bristling parapet of spines, 
passes human comprehension. The nest itself is a slimsy affair, for 
great dependence is placed upon the closely supporting array of cactus 
branches; but whatever the quantity of foreign twigs which may be 
smuggled into the bush, the bottom of the nest is sure to be composed 
almost exclusively of the densely matted flower-heads of a certain gray 
weed which abounds in the desert. This custom is inexorable, at least 
in the Colorado and Mohave deserts. What the birds who nest in the 
Atriplex bushes of the Buena Vista Lake region do for linings, I do not 
know. 
Nesting begins in February on the Colorado Desert, though early 
April is the best average season for fresh eggs. Sometimes a second 
brood is brought off in May or June, but second nesting, or indeed any 
nesting, depends upon a favorable season. When the February rains 
have been copious, so that the desert blossoms as the rose (and there 
is no glory like the glory of the desert in blossom!) then the Thrashers 
are sure of support for their putative families, and they nest with a will. 
But if the rains fail and the desert languishes, the birds refrain from 
breeding. One wonders if the human kind is as wise, or indeed, as 
“natural” as the birds. 
No. 143 
Crissal Thrasher 
A. O. U. No. 712. Toxostoma crissale Henry. 
Description. — Adult: Somewhat similar to Toxostoma redivivum, but under¬ 
parts much darker in coloration, with greater contrast between ground-color and white 
of throat and rufous of crissum. Above plain grayish brown or drab, shading on sides 
into lighter drab-gray of underparts; throat and malar area pure white, interrupted by 
dusky maxillary stripe; cheeks brown speckled with white; crissum and flanks dull 
chestnut. Bill black; feet brownish dusky. Length 279.4-304.8 (11.00-12.00); wing 
100 (3.94); tail 40 (1.57); bill 35.3 (1.39); tarsus 32.8 (1.29). 
Recognition Marks.— Robin size; curved bill and dark coloration; red crissum. 
Nesting.— Nest: Of coarse twigs, preferably thorny; lined with dead grasses, 
usually weathered and frayed; placed in center of “all thorns’’ (Zizyphus) bush, or in 
other dense cover, as Atriplex bush. Eggs: 3, rarely 4; pale to light niagara green, 
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