THRASHERS, MOCKINGBIRDS: BENDIRE THRASHER 557 
April, October, and November (Anthony); San Luis Mountains September 22- 
October 2 (Mearns); and in 1912, a specimen taken at Silver City, October 18 
(Kellogg). 
A few may occasionally remain through the winter in New Mexico, but most 
desert the State at tliis season. [One was seen a few miles from Carlsbad on Decem¬ 
ber 17, 1916 (Willett).] 
Nest. — In bush cactus, tall yuccas, and thorn brush, made of thorny twigs lined 
with a few grasses or grass roots. Eggs: 3 or 4, pale bluish green, finely and uniformly 
speckled with brown. 
General Habits. — The short wings and long, tilting tail of the 
clay-colored Curve-bill give it the characteristic Thrasher flight. Its 
two-syllabled, liquid call is one of the dominant notes, and its song is 
one of the richest of its country. When we were photographing one 
of its big thorny nests, the disturbed parent came so near we could 
see the bright red of its eyes. 
Along the Penasco River east of Lower Penasco, Mr. Ligon found 
these Thrashers common June 20, 1913, among the jointed cactus 
that grew in the thickets. As he says, the wide smooth valleys between 
the hills were full of these cactuses, and the birds were nesting in them, 
making bulky nests of sticks, lined with grass. He writes: “A terrific 
hailstorm had preceded me by about ten days, and I found many young- 
dead in the nests. Last July I found these birds nesting abundantly 
west of the Guadalupe Mountains about Orange and northwest, 
always nesting in the cactus” (MS). s 
In the Carlsbad Cave region, where Mr. Bailey found them common, 
he found them feeding largely on fruit and ground insects, which seemed 
to make them “ comparatively independent of visible water supply” 
(1928a, p. 158). 
BENDIRE THRASHER: Toxostoma bendirei (Coues) 
Description. — Length: About 9.5-10.5 inches, wing 3.9-4.2, tail 4.2-4.0, bill .9, 
tarsus 1.3-1 .4. A dulls: Upper parts pale grayish brown , tail dark brown, outer feathers 
tipped with white; wings with indistinct bars; underparts buffy or brownish white, 
palest on throat and belly, rusty brown on flanks and crissum, indistinctly spotted 
with brown; the breast alone marked with small brown arrow head spots; iris yellow; 
under mandible pale brownish at base. In very worn plumage the wing-bars are not 
evident and the spots of the underparts are barely observable. Young: Similar, 
but wings and rump rusty or tawny; underparts narrowly streaked. 
Range. —Breeds in Lower Sonoran deserts of southeastern California, eastern 
Arizona, and northern Sonora; winters south to northern Sinaloa. 
State Records. —A single specimen taken at Hachita August 12, 1908 (Bailey), 
was the first sure foundation for including the Bendire Thrasher in the list of New 
Mexico birds. A specimen was, however, taken April 21, 1892, in the Carrizalillo 
Mountains just south of the boundary and about 85 miles west of the Rio Grande 
(Mearns); [a nest with three fresh eggs was finally found, June 18, 1926, 10 miles 
northeast of Rodeo, Hidalgo County (Ligon).] The species occurs regularly and 
commonly in southeastern Arizona not far from the New Mexico line.—WAV. Cooke. 
