Wrens WESTERN BIRDS 



FAMILY— TROGLODYTID.E: WRENS. 



While the mention of this family will, to most people, 

 recall vividly the small brown House Wren which is so 

 friendly throughout the eastern United States, according 

 to the A. 0. U. Check List there are about forty species 

 and subspecies in this country. They are mostly small 

 dull-colored birds having long tails which they carry 

 well up, oftentimes tilted over the back. Their bills are 

 long and in some species slightly curved. They are 

 active birds that are wont to scold in loud harsh tones 

 when excited, but have musical songs that are given with 

 a gusto that enliven the entire neighborhood where they 

 dwell, be it brush-covered hillside, woodland thicket, 

 dooryard, marsh, canyon, rocky ledge, or cactus hedge. 

 They are expert builders, sometimes constructing a large 

 bulky affair and sometimes a small compact cup, and 

 they are not believers in race suicide; at least, the large 

 sets of eggs and the big broods that are brought forth 

 would lead us to believe otherwise. 



GENUS HELEODYTES : CACTUS WREN. 



Cactus Wren: Heleodytes brunneicapillus couesi. 



FAMILY— WRENS. 



In the dry sandy washes and deserts of the south- 

 west where grows the cactus is found the most un- Wren- 

 like member of the family, the Cactus Wren. Its range 

 is from Ventura County, south, in California, southern 

 Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It is 



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