JAN., rgoz. 1 THE CONDOR 5‘

The Crissal Thrasher in California.

BY M. P. GILMAN, BANNING, CAL.

HIS thrasher, Nay-orlzynchus cris- built and not quite so bulky. It was in salis, is not always listed as a Cali- a mesquite three feet from the ground T fornia bird, but nevertheless it is and built close under a large branch, so quite common in portions of the Colo- there was hardly room to get my hand rado desert this side of the Colorado into the nest. The eggs slightly incub- River. Great numbers of them can be ated, were a little smaller and shorter found in the dense thickets of mesquite than those of the California thrasher, and screw-bean in the depressed por- and plain green in color. The bird was tion of the desert near the Salton sink. very shy, and I never succeeded in In what is known as “Conchilla Valley,” seeing her on the nest, she always slip- which is west of Salton, lying from ~0 to ping out on the opposite side before I 260 below sea level, are found several could approach very near. new settlements, embryo tow ns-Indio, In March 1901, in company with Thermal and Walters, and the old In- Nathan Hargrave of Banning, another dian villages of Toros, Martinez and bird lover, I made a trip to Toros and Agua Dulce. Near all these places the Martinez to study these birds where mesquite and screw-bean make great they were more numerous. On March thickets and the crissal thrasher is at 18 and rg we found ten nests contain- home. ing eggs or young. With one exception Twenty miles west of the rim of the they were all built close up to an over- ancient sea and about 500 feet above hanging limb making it difficult to in- its level, is Palm Springs, a small settle- sert the hand. All but one were also in ment in what is called Palm Valley. the densest part of the mesquite and From here the desert narrows till it rather hard to see. And hard to get at merges into,San Gorgonio Pass twenty too as anyone who has crawled through miles to the west,-a narrow valley or a mesquite thicket can testify. The pass 2,500 feet elevation, between San nests were from 2% to 6 feet from the Gorgonio and San Jacinto peaks, 11,900 ground-the average being about 3% and 10,800 feet high. In such a range feet and only one 6 feet. The sets of life zones-from sub-tropical to Hud- were IA, B and H-about evenly dis- sonian-the diversity of species is great tributed as to number of each. and there is much over-lapping. The nests contained in some cases, In twenty miles you may go from fresh eggs-in others incubation far ad- groves of native wild palms,-( Wash- vanced and one had young birds in it. ingtonia jlifera), to bare mountain From brief observation I should say peaks above timber-line and carrying that individual birds nest near the same snow most of the year; and a summer spot year after year. Nearly every temperature of from 130 ’ in the shade nest found was near from one to three to below freezing point; and a range of old nests, probably belonging to the birds from the verdin, I,econte thrasher same bird as no new nests were ever and Gambel partridge to Clarke nut- found close to each other. In one case cracker, thick-billed sparrow, and Audu- three nests were found in the same tree bon warbler. -one new and two old ones. The In January 1899 I secured my first number of old nests made more work crissal thrasher at Palm Springs. I,ater for us, as we examined all seen. In in the season I noticed a pair about, and such a dry climate with the annual on May 4 secured a set of three eggs. rainfall from nil to possibly four inches, I‘ he’ nest differed little from the Califor- a year-old nest does not differ SD much nia thrasher, being more compactly from a new one as might be expected 16 THE CONDOR 1 Vol. IV and sometimes a look into the nest is re- seems to prefer the cover of branch and quired to make certain. But the old leaf. The song is rather in a minor nests were sometimes a help as we strain-B flat I should say-and has made a close search in their immediate fewer variations than that of his near neighborhood and were often rewarded relative. In company with the thrash- by finding the new one. ers were seen many Abert towhees We found the birds very shy and (Pij3iZo aberti) and two unfinished nests rarely succeeded in seeing the bird and one set of eggs found. A few I,e- leave the nest-which she did quietly, conte thrashers. (Hav#ovlzynchzls Zecon- slipping from the bush on the side farth- ta)’ were seen on the outskirts of the est from us. The bird is a very pleas- thickets but they seem to prefer the ing singer but not equal to the Califor- more open and sandy country-the de- nia thrasher. He sings less frequently sert proper,-with which their light and does not often perch on top of the sandy “complexion” harmonizes. brush during the performance but

(Piranga Zudoviciana.)

BY J. H. BOWLES, TACOMA, WASH.

HIS handsome member of the Nest building in Washington and tanager family is, perhaps the Oregon is seldom commenced before the T most brilliantly plumaged of all first week in June and is mnre often de- the birds in the northwest. Being an layed until much later in that month. eastern observer, I eagerly looked for- The earliest set recorded is one of four ward to the first acquaintance with this eggs, incubation commenced, taken on relative of my favorite of the Massachu- June 4. The latest is a set of three, in- setts groves, the scarlet tanager (Pivanga cubation slight, taken on June 28. Both erythromelas.) Nor was I disappointed, of these sets were taken in Waldo, Ore- for in comparing fully plumaged males gon, by my brother, Mr. C. W. Bowles, of both species, although unlike in and both were undoubtedly first sets. color in every respect, it would be hard The favorite location for the nest is to say which is the more beautiful. an oak or fir, preferably the latter, on For the benefit of eastern readers, it or bordering a prairie. Often, however, may be as well to make a few compari- a tree is selected on some hillside from sons between the subject of this article which nearly all the large timber has and the scarlet tanager. Its habits dif- been cleared. In position, the nest is fer considerably from the latter, as it is invariably OX a branch, never in an up- principally a bird of the clearings, while right crotch in my experience. As a eryt/zvomeCas is more given to the seclu- rule it i; placed at some distance from sion of the woods. the main trunk of the tree, usually Among our northwestern migrants it from six to ten feet and often much is almost the last to come and the first more. The height from the ground to go, appearing in large numbers about varies from fifteen to fifty feet, though the middle of May, and leaving early in any above thirty feet may be considered exceptional. September. Although essentially a In these respects its habits are similar warm weather bird, the majority seem to those of the scarlet tanager, although to pass on to the north of Washington, the latter prefers a more secluded nest- as it can hardly be called a common ing place. The nest itself is also simi- bird around Tacoma at any time ex- lar, with the exception that it is usually cepting that of migration. a considerably more bulky structure.