Wren-Tits WESTERN BIRDS 



GENUS CHAMPA. 

 FAMILY— CHAMiEDID^: WREN-TITS. 



Most of the western birds differ in some way from 

 corresponding species found east of the Rockies. In 

 California, and southern Oregon, there are several species 

 which are not found at all in the east and although some- 

 times found as stragglers in other western States, are 

 most common within their borders. 



One of these birds, which differs from anything else 

 in feathers, is the Wren-tit, some form of which is 

 found from the coast of Oregon to Lower California. 



It has been hard for scientists to decide to just what 

 family this anomaly belongs. Some have felt that it 

 should have a family by itself and be placed next the 

 Wrens, and until recent years it has been listed with the 

 Nuthatches and Tits, which does not seem appropriate, 

 since in neither plumage, nor habits, does it resemble the 

 former; the resemblance to the latter being more pro- 

 nounced. In the latest edition (1910) of the A. 0. U. 

 Check List the bird, in its various forms, is given a 

 family by itself. 



The name Wren-tit seems not inappropriate, since in 

 color, some of its notes, long tail, and many ways it 

 resembles a Wren, while its head and short bill resemble 

 the Bush-tit, formerly its cousin. 



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