326 SOME UNITED STATES BIRDS, NEW TO SCIENCE. 
unmarked — a thing before unknown in this genus. The eggs are 
two in number, laid in a mere shallow depression of the bare 
ground, usually at the foot of a bush — Lt. Bendire found them so, 
August 2, 1872. When he informed me of this I could not help 
thinking there was some mistake about it; but on communicating 
with Prof. Baird on the subject, he replied: ‘‘ Nuttall’s whippoor- 
will is unique in the genus for laying white eggs. We have several 
sets of them, and have established the fact beyond question.” 
This is equally novel and interesting ; but how about Dr. Sclater’s 
generalization,* whieh I adopted without qualification in the Key 
(p. 180), to the effect that all the Caprimulgine lay colored eggs? 
I think it is easier to stand corrected in this instance than to dis- 
turb the bird’s position. 3 
The presence of a sharp horny spur on the shank (tarsus) is a 
very common character of gallinaceous birds, well illustrated in the 
case of the barnyard cock; and in some birds of this order there 
are a pair of spurs, one above the other, on each leg. The turkey 
gobbler (Meleagris gallopavo) is well known to possess a pair, and 
this is supposed to be a constant character of the males of the 
genus Meleagris. Such, however, proves to be not always the case. 
“ The males do not all have spurs; in fact, I thought at first that 
the variety of turkey we have in Arizona never had any, and I 
have been so informed by Mexicans and Indians. But I killed 
two gobblers myself a few days ago, and both were spurred ; though 
the largest bird I ever killed, a male weighing twenty-eight pounds, 
had no spurs.” (Jn epist., Dec. 29, 1872). 
Almost every one knows the Brown Thrush, or Thrasher 
(Harporhynchus rufus) of the Eastern United States—an abun- 
dant and familiar inhabitant of shrubbery, and a spirited songster, 
with some talent for mimicry. It belongs to the mocking-thrush 
group (Mimine) all of which are famous for their vocal powers; 
the cat-bird, and the princely mocking-bird itself, are near relatives. 
The accompanying cut (Fig. 65) looks something like a thrasher 
in the act of singing. There is a Texan and Mexican variety © 
this bird, very similar, but longer billed, darker colored, and more 
heavily streaked underneath. The genus Harporhynchus, (which 
means “ bow-billed”) contains several other species, equally in- 
teresting, and seeming to us the more remarkable on account of 
the extraordinary length and curvature of the bill. Al these in- 
: * Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Feb. 1866, p. 127: 
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