HISTORY OF THE CACTUS WREN 157 



The points of difference between this apecies and the nearly allied though 

 apparently quite distinct C affinls of Lower California (which may yet bo 

 found in the Colorado Basin) are as follows : In C. affinls, the cap is reddish- 

 brown, lighter instead of darker than the back. The marking of the back 

 is very conspicuous, in strong streaks of black and white, these two colors 

 bordering each other with little or no indentation. The under parts are 

 nearly white, with smaller markings on the throat and larger ones else- 

 where, so that these areas are scarcely contrasted in appearance. Lastly 

 and chieli^', all the lateral tail-feathers, instead of only the outer ones, are 

 crossed on both webs with numerous complete white bars. The variations 

 with sex and age correspond with those of C. brunneicapiUus. 



THE history of the Brown-headed Cactus Wren begins in 

 doubt whether it is the bird which the famous French 

 ornithologist De Lafresnaye (or De La Fresnaye — it is written 

 both ways by the Baron himself) described and figured in 1835 

 .under the name of Picolaptes brunncicaplllus. In critically 

 reviewing the case, Professor Baird found it " quite impossible " 

 to reconcile the ascribed characters of Lafresnaye's bird with 

 the present species, and alludes to the chance that it may 

 have come from Peru, instead of California, as was supposed. 

 However, as the identification has been universally accepted, 

 we are warranted in retaining it, in the absence of proof to the 

 contrary. I almost wish that it may be shown to be necessary 

 to change the name, which becomes most inconveniently long 

 when associated with the generic term — in fact, I remember 

 but one more cumbrous appellation for a North American 

 bird. T^is is Spithliborhamphus icurmizuzume, a curious Greco- 

 Japanese term, which was invented for one of the North Pacific 

 species of the Auk family ( AZciV/ce), and for which Brandt, Tem- 

 minck and myself are jointly responsible. 



The English name which the " Cactus" Wren has acquired 

 indicates the nature of its customary resorts, and aftbrds a hint 

 of its peculiar nidification. As we have already seen, several 

 of the Arizona birds are architects of singular skill and taste ; 

 the Cactus Wren is one of them. In the most arid and desolate 

 regions of the Southwest, where the cacti flourish with wonder- 

 ful luxuriance, covering the impoverished tracts of volcanic 

 debris with a kind of vegetation only less surly and forbidding 

 than the very scoria, this Wren makes its home, and places its 

 nests, on every hand, in the thorny embrace of the repulsive 

 vegetation. True to the instincts and traditions of the Wren 

 family, it builds a bulky and conspicuous domicile; and when 

 man}' are breeding together, the structures become as noticeable 



