WESTERN BIRDS ^"Q 



a resident in most places found, although most abundant 

 throughout the summer. 



The adults are eight or nine inches long and are more 

 gray in tone than most members of the family. The 

 upper parts are brown heavily streaked with black and 

 white; there is a white line over the eye, the middle tail 

 feathers are brownish spotted with black, the others are 

 black, the outside one being barred with white ; the white 

 throat and breast are marked with black roundish spots, 

 and the belly is buffy brown. Altogether, it is a hand- 

 some bird that easily attracts attention in its chosen 

 haunts, the cactus thickets of the desert or the dry 

 barren washes where these plants and the yuccas grow. 



Mrs. Bailey gives the call as a monotonous chut, chut, 

 but says that its manner of singing from the top of a 

 bare branch with head up and tail hanging is like that 

 of the Carolina Wren. 



Aside from their size and coloring probably the most 

 interesting thing about these Wrens is the nest they 

 build. It is an immense affair which is often ten or 

 twelve inches long, is flask-shaped and placed on its side 

 in a cactus, yucca, or thorny bush, the small round 

 opening being at the mouth of the flask. The outside is 

 made of sticks, straws, fibers and like material, and the 

 inside is lined with feathers, some of which sometimes 

 protrude from the opening. Usually there will be sev- 

 eral of these queer nests in one cactus hedge, or thicket, 

 and it is believed that the birds sleep in them. 



One cannot help wondering if the baby birds never get 

 impaled on the thorns of their unusual home-site, but so 

 far as prowling snakes are concerned one may rest quite 

 content and feel that the nestlings are quite safe from 

 their ravages. 



In San Diego County (California) and south a similar 

 bird is called the Bryant's Cactus Wren. The chief 

 difference is in the tail feathers, the middle ones being 



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