486 Birds of Colorado 



p. 276 ; McGregor 97, p. 39 ; Cooke 97, pp. 19, 120, 221 ; Keyser 02, 

 p. 296 ; Henderson 03, p. 237 : 09, p. 240 ; Warren 06, p. 24 ; 08, p. 25 ; 

 09, p. 17 ; Oilman 07, p. 195 ; Markman 07, p. 158 ; Rockwell 08, p. 178. 



Description. —Adult — Above pale brownLsh-grey, washed with rufous 

 on the rump, delicately speckled throughout with darker ; tail-feathers, 

 except the central pair, with a subterminal band of black and a terminal 

 one of pale buffy ; below dull white tinged with buff on the flanks, 

 the chest and lower throat finely streaked with dusky and the under 

 tail-coverts spotted with the same ; iris brown, bill horny, the lower 

 mandible paler, legs blackish. Length of a male 5-4 ; wing 2-8 ; 

 tail 2 1; cuhnen -75 ; tarsiLs SO. 



The sexes are alike ; young birds are vermiculated rather than 

 speckled above, and are inmiaculate below. 



Distribution. — Western North America from British Columbia to 

 central Texas, south to central Mexico, west to the Pacific, breeding 

 throughout its range and wintering in the southern portion of it. 



In Colorado the Rock -Wren is plentiful, though never very common, 

 throughout the State from the plains to timber line, and from the 

 Kansas to the Utah border. It arrives from the south about the middle 

 of April, breeds from the plains to 12,000 feet, though chiefly between 

 6,000 and 9,000 feet, and departs again in October. There can be 

 little doubt that a few individuals winter in the State, as it has been 

 observed by Lomo (01) on January 12th, at the foot of the Wet Moun- 

 tains, about eighteen miles south-west of Pueblo. 



The following are some spring records : Springfield, Baca co., 

 April 10th (Warren), Fort Lyon, April 20th (Cooke), Pueblo, April 

 7th (Lowe), El Paso co., April 27th (Allen & Brewster), Boulder co. 

 (Henderson), Loveland, April 29th (Cooke), Mesa co., May 1st 

 (Rockwell), Coventry and Bedrock, common (Warren). 



Habits. — ^The favourite resort of this bird is among 

 the heaps of fallen and loose rock lying about on the 

 mountain sides, and also about rocky canons and bluffs ; 

 here it skulks about, running s-wiftly over the bare stones 

 more like a rat than a bird. It is a fine songster, its 

 notes being clear and bright, though perhaps not so varied 

 as those of the House-Wren. When singing, the male 

 nearly always perches on some conspicuous position, 

 the summit of a rock, or even occasionally the ridge of 

 a miner's cabin ; here he stands very erect, with head 

 thrown up and swelling throat, and pours forth his lay ; 



