NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 403 



Colorado, May 29, 1885, consists of six eggs; these measure .74 x .59 

 .69 x 54, .71 x .58, .70 x .56, .73 x .59, .7 r x .58. 



716. Salpinctes guadeloupensis RIDGW. [580.] 



Gnadalnpe Rook Wren. 



Hab. Guadalupe Island, Lower California. 



Mr. Walter E. Bryant states that this is undoubtedly the most 

 common of the birds on Guadalupe Island, distributed from the beach 

 to the summit, but found most numerous on the upper and central 

 portions. They are first to begin nesting. A few birds began the con- 

 struction of their nests in December, and one had her work nearly 

 completed on the 25th of December, 1885. Four fresh eggs were 

 found in it on January 17. The breeding season, strictly speaking, 

 Mr. Bryant says, extends from the middle of January through the 

 month of March. " Nests were found in cavities of immense bould- 

 ers, under rocks, in fallen and decayed trunks of cypress trees, the 

 latter location being apparently a favorite one. But wherever the 

 nests were located the passages leading to them were, with one or two 

 exceptions, paved with flat pebbles ranging in size from a Lima bean to 

 a half dollar. Fully a quart of these pebbles were removed from the 

 entrance to a nest built in a boulder at a height of four feet, where, 

 at some previous time, other birds had evidently built and accumu- 

 lated their share of the pavement. As a rule, scarcely an ordinary 

 handful of stones is used." The nest is built to conform to the size 

 and shape of the cavity which it occupies; it is made of fine dry 

 grasses and lined with goat hair. 



The eggs are usually four, though sometimes five in number, and 

 resemble, both in color and shape, those of the common Rock 

 Wren, 5". obsoletus. Set No. 781 in Mr. Bryant's collection measures 

 17x14, 17x14.5, 18x14.5, 18.5x14.5, millimeters.* Set No. 782 

 measures in millimeters, 19 x 14, 19 x 14, 19.5 x 14.5, 19.5 x 14.5, 19.5 x 

 i5.f The two largest eggs in a series of fifty-five specimens measures 

 21x15 mm. and 20x16 mm. respectively; the two smallest 17x14 

 mm; average 19 x 14 mm4 



Ilia. Catherpes mexicanus conspersus RIDGW. [590.] 



Canon "Wren. 



Hab. Southwestern United States, from Western Texas, Colorado, etc., to the Pacific, north to South- 

 ern Idaho and Oregon; south to Mexico boundary and Lower California.g 



The rocky canons of the mountain regions throughout its range 

 are the home of this species. It is easily recognized by its white 



*.67 x .55, .67 x .57, .71 x .57, .73 x .57. 

 t.75 x .55, .75 x .55, .77 x .57, .77 x .55, .77 x .59. 



|Largest .83 x .59 and .79x .63; smallest .67x .55; average .75x .55. 



^Within this habitat our text includes the Dotted Canon Wren, a new subspecies, Catherfies m<jfi~ 

 canus punctulatus, Ridgw., inhabiting California, Lower California, Arizona and New Mexico. 



