132 



NORTH AMERIC.IN BIRDS. 



Campylorliynchus brunneicapillus, Gray. 



CACTUS WEEN. 



Pienlaptes bnmneicapilhis, Lafresx.^te, irag. de Zool. 1835, 61, pi. xlvii. — La we. Ann. 

 N. Y. Lye. V, 1851, 114. — Ca.s.sin, Birds CaL Tex. 1854, lati, pi. xxv. — Hf.f.hmann, 

 J. A. N. Sc. II, 1853, 263. C. brunneicapillus. Gray, Genera, I, 1847, 159. — Bp. 

 Consp. 1850, 223. — ScL. P. A. N. S. 156, 264. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 355 ; 

 IV. Phil. Acad. 1859, 3, etc. ; Rev. 99. — Heermaxx, P. P. K. X, 1859. —Dresser, 

 Ibis, 1865, 482 (Texas). — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 61. 



Sp. Char. Bill as long as tlie head. Above brown ; darkest on the head, which is 

 unspotted. Feathers on the back streaked centrally with white. Beneath whitish, tinged 

 with rusty on the belly ; the feathers of the throat and upper parts, and under tail-coverts, 

 with large rounded black spots; tho.se of the remaining under parts with smaller, more 

 hnear ones. Chin and line over the eye white. Tail-feathers l)lack beneath, barred subter- 

 niinally (the outer one througliout) with white. Iri.s, reddish-yellow. Length, 8 inches; 

 wing, 3.40 ; tail, 3.55. 



Hab. Adjacent borders of the United States and Mexico, from the mouth of the Rio 

 Grande to the Valley of the Colorado, and to the Pacific coast of Southern California. 

 Replaced at Cape St. Lucas by C. affinis. 



This species is found ahnndantly along the line of the Eio Grande and 

 Gila, extending norlhwaid .some distance, and everywhere conspicuous by 

 its wren-like habits and enormous nest. 



Habits. The Brown-lieaded Greeper is a comparatively recent addition 



to the fauna of the Uiiited States, 

 but ajijjears to be common along 

 tlic sduthwestern borders of the 

 I'nited States, from tlie valley of 

 tlie Rio Grande to San Diego, in 

 ( 'alifoniia. In Lower California 

 it is rejjlaced by the C. affinis. 



It was first added to our avi- 

 fauna by Mr. Lawrence in 1851, 

 on the strength of a sjjecimen 

 obtained in Texas by Cajitain 

 jVIcCown. 



iJr. Heermann, in his paper on 

 the Birds of California, speaks 

 of finding it in the arid country back of Guymas, on the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia. This country, presenting only broken surfaces and a confused 

 luiiss of volcanic rocks, covered by a scanty vegetation of thorny bushes 

 and cacti, among other interesting birds, was found to contain this species 

 in abundance. He describes it as a lively, .sprightly species, tittering, at 

 intervals, clear, loud, ringing notes. Its nest, composed of grasses and lined 

 with feathers, was in the shape of a long purse, enormous for the size of the 

 bird, and laid flat between the forks or on the Ijranches of a cactus. Tlie 



CampyioThynr.h us bnt n m n^aydlui 



