BAIRD'S WREN 187 



Nesting. — We did not succeed in finding a nest of this wren in Ari- 

 zona, but my companion, Frank C. Willard, told me that he once found 

 a nest in the fold of a piece of burlap that was being used as an awn- 

 ing on a house in the Huachuca Mountains. Mr. Swarth (1904b) says 

 that the nest is quite difficult to find and that he saw only three or 

 four in this region, "all built in cavities in the trees, from six to fifteen 

 feet from the ground." 



Dr. Coues (1882) found a nest in northern Arizona that was "in the 

 hollow end of a blasted horizontal bough" of a cedar, "about eight 

 feet from the ground." The nest "rested upon the horizontal floor 

 of the cavity, upon a bed of wood-mould and cedar-berries, about a 

 foot from the ragged entrance of the hollow. It was a neat structure, 

 about 4 inches across outside, by half as much in internal diameter, 

 cupped to a depth of an inch and a half. Outside was a wall of small 

 cedar twigs interlaced, and next came a layer of finely frayed inner 

 bark strips from the same tree ; but the bulk of the nest consisted of 

 matted rabbit-fur stuck full of feathers, among which those of the 

 Carolina Dove were conspicuous." 



Mr. Hendee (1929) found two nests in northwestern Colorado, of 

 which he says : "A fresh nest, empty, was found on May 19. The first 

 ^g^ was laid about a week later and the set of six was completed on 

 May 31. The nest was composed mostly of wool and feathers and a 

 few small pieces of paper, loosely piled in a natural cavity in a juniper 

 tree, about 2 feet from the ground. The opening was very small. A 

 second nest was found on June 3. It was placed in a dead juniper 

 branch about 5 inches in diameter, the opening, caused by the break- 

 ing oif of a small branch, being about an inch in diameter at the widest 

 point. The five eggs in this nest were hatching when it was visited 

 on the following day." 



Eggs. — The eggs of Baird's wren are typical of the species, with 

 the usual variations. The measurements of 40 eggs average 16.5 by 

 12.8 millimeters; and eggs showing the four extremes measure 17.8 

 by 13.0, 17.0 by 14.3, and 14.1 by 11.9 millimeters. 



Plvmages. — Dr. Oberholser (1898) says: "Young birds of eremo- 

 philus range in color above from a light rufescent gray, hardly dis- 

 tinguishable from the shade of young cryptics, to a very dark, dull 

 brownish gray; averaging, however, very much darker than the 

 Texan form. Many of the specimens are fully as deeply colored 

 as the young af charienturus, though averaging rather less rufescent." 



Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) found in their series of 29 adults, 

 collected in Brewster County, Tex., between February 28 and May 26, 

 two "well marked color phases, a gray and a brown one. * * * 

 We cannot distinguish brown-phase Brewster County specimens 

 from comparable Arizona and New Mexico specimens." 



