NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 401 



remarkable for its scope and sweetness, having all the power of the 

 Mockingbird, singing from the tops of the tallest bushes in the same 

 attitude as the Brown Thrasher of the East. Like the rest of the 

 Thrashers it is highly terrestrial, and runs swiftly on the ground from 

 bush to bush, often jetting its long tail upward, more or less above the 

 horizontal. They breed about the same time as Bendire's Thrashers. 

 Mr. Scott found eggs in the Catalina Mountains of Arizona during the 

 first week in April that were about ready to be hatched, and young 

 birds fully fledged were observed as early as May ( i. Dr. Mearns saw 

 young birds that were strong on the wing by the end of April. Two 

 broods are reared, and the number of eggs laid, so far as I am able to 

 ascertain, is usually three, sometimes four. Dr. Mearns discovered, on 

 June 14, a nest placed upon a horizontal bough of a large mesquite 

 bush containing two eggs, and in two days later it contained four eggs. 

 The proprietors of this nest divided their attention between the care 

 of their nest and a family of young not yet able to shift for themselves. 

 The nests, placed in bushes, are large conspicuous objects, rudaly con- 

 structed of coarse twigs; the inner nest is made of finer vegetable 

 materials. 



The eggs are pale greenish-blue, unmarked. Two sets containing 

 three eggs each in Mr. Norris' cabinet were collected in Arizona, near 

 Tucson, April 10, 1884, and at Sacton, April 12, 1885. These measure 

 i. ii x. 74, 1.09 x .73, 1.13 x .73; 1. 10 x. 73, i.i6x-77, i.i4x.76. The 

 average size is 1.08 x .75. 



713. Campylorhynchus bmnneicapillus (LAFR.) [56.] 



Cactus Wren. 



Hab. Southwestern border of the United States, from Southern Texas to the coast of Southern 

 California; south into Northern and Central Mexico. 



A common bird in the cactus and chaparral regions of Texas, 

 New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Utah, Nevada, and Southern Cali- 

 fornia. As its name implies, cactus groves are its favorite haunts. In 

 these, and other thorny shrubs, its nest is placed, which is a very large 

 and purse-shaped affair with an entrance at one end. It is composed 

 of little thorns and grasses, and lined with feathers. Mr. Shields states 

 that in Los Angeles county, California, there is no grove of cactus along 

 the foothills without these Wrens. He has often found from four to 

 ten nests in a bed of cacti not more than a dozen yards square. 

 Three broods are probably reared, as fresh eggs may be found from the 

 middle of April to the last of July. 



The eggs are generally five, sometimes four, and occasionally only 

 three. They are white or creamy in ground-color, which is thickly 

 covered with rich, reddish-brown spots or specks, giving to the entire 



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