_Toxostoma lecontei_, LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, Sept. 1851, 109 (Fort
Yuma). _Harporhynchus lecontei_, BONAP. C. R. XXVIII, 1854,
57.—IB. Notes Delattre, 39.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 350, pl.
1; IB. Review, 47.—COOPER, Birds Cal. 1, 17.
SP. CHAR. Bill much curved. Second quill about equal to the tenth;
exposed portion of the first more than half the longest; outer
tail-feather an inch shortest. General color above light grayish-ash,
beneath much paler; the chin and throat above almost white; the sides
behind brownish-yellow or pale rusty-yellow ash, of which color is the
crissum and anal region. Tail-feathers rather dark brown on the under
surface, lighter above; the outer edges and tips of exterior ones
obscurely paler. Quills nearly like the back.
HAB. Gila River; Fort Yuma; Fort Mojave.
Since the description of the type, a second specimen (40,718 ♂, Fort
Mojave, 20 miles from Colorado River, Sept. 30, 1865) has been
obtained by Dr. Coues. This skin differs slightly from the type in
size, being somewhat larger, measuring, wing 3.90, tail 5.30, bill
(from nostril) 1.05; while the other measures, wing 3.70, tail 4.70,
bill .98. This difference in size very probably represents that
between the sexes, the type most likely being a female, though the sex
is not stated. Owing to the different seasons in which the two
specimens were obtained, they differ somewhat in plumage also. Dr.
Coues’s specimen is somewhat the darker, and the plumage has a softer,
more blended aspect, and a more ashy tinge of color; the ochraceous of
the crissal region is also slightly deeper. No other differences are
appreciable.
HABITS. Leconte’s Thrasher is a new and comparatively little known
species. A single specimen was obtained by Dr. Leconte near Fort Yuma,
and described by Mr. Lawrence in 1851, and remained unique for many
years. In 1861 Dr. Cooper presented a paper to the California Academy
of Sciences, in which this bird is given among a list of those new to
that State. He then mentions that he found it common about the Mojave
River, and that he procured two specimens.
Dr. Coues, in his valuable paper on the birds of Arizona, speaks of
obtaining, in 1865, a specimen of this rare species on a dry plain
covered thickly with mesquite and cactus, near Fort Mojave. This bird
was very shy and restless, fluttered hurriedly from one cactus to
another, until he at last shot it where it seemed to fancy itself
hidden among the thick fronds of a large yucca. Its large stout feet
admirably adapt it for its partially terrestrial life, and it
apparently spends much of its life upon the ground, where it runs
rapidly and easily. Its flight he describes as swift but desultory,
and accompanied by a constant flirting of the tail. He considers this
species as inhabiting the whole valley of the Colorado and Gila, and
thinks that it does not leave the vicinity of these streams for the
mountains.
Dr. Cooper found a nest of this species, but without eggs, built in a
yucca, and similar to that of _H. redivivus_. In his Report on the
Birds of California, Dr. Cooper speaks of finding this bird common on
the deserts, along the route between the Colorado Valley, wherever
there was a thicket of low bushes surrounded by sand-hills. Its notes,
habits, and general appearance were like those of _H. redivivus_.
Harporhynchus redivivus, CABAN.