WAKNER VALLEY WREN 191 



THRYOMANES BEWICKII ATRESTUS Oberholser 

 WARNER VALLEY WREN 



Dr. Oberholser (1932) describes this wren as "similar to Thryo- 

 manes hewickli drymoeciis from the San Joaquin Valley, California, 

 but much less rufescent (more grayish) above; somewhat darker; 

 and averaging larger. * * * Resident in central southern Ore- 

 gon, from the Warner Valley west to Medford and Ashland, and 

 north to Gold Hill." 



"This new race," says Oberholser, "is most typical in the Warner 

 Valley. Birds from localities west to Gold Hill, Ashland, Keno, and 

 Klamath Falls are somewhat rufescent above, thus inclining a little 

 toward the race occupying the coast of Oregon. Compared with 

 ThryoTJianes hewickii calophonus the present form is so much smaller 

 and more grayish that it needs no special comparison. Altogether a 

 series of 20 examples has been available." 



THRYOMANES BEWICKII MARINENSIS Grinnell 



NICASIO WREN 



HABITS 



On the humid coast belt of southwestern Oregon and northwestern 

 California, we have a wren that Dr. Grinnell (1910) describes as 

 "similar to T. h. spilurus (Vigors), of the Santa Cruz faunal area 

 south and east of San Francisco Bay, in size, but dorsal coloration 

 brighter brown, of a Vandyke tone, and flanks and light intervals on 

 crissum strongly washed with vandyke brown. Similar to T. h. calo- 

 phonus Oberholser, of western Washington and Oregon, but dorsal 

 coloration brighter brown, of a less sooty tone, and size decidedly 

 less." He gives the range as Marin and Sonoma Counties, Calif., 

 and remarks that he had not seen any specimens from the more north- 

 ern coast region of California. The range of this form is now con- 

 sidered to extend into Oregon. Here we have a race, intermediate in 

 range, like its southern neighbor in size and somewhat like its north- 

 ern neighbor in coloration, yet not strictly intermediate in both char- 

 acters. 



As it lives in a somewhat similar environment and is evidently very 

 closely related to these two adjacent races, we could hardly expect to 

 find much difference in its habits. Practically nothing has been pub- 

 lished on its habits that is in any way peculiar to it. 



Robert R. Talmadge writes to me : "This form of the Bewick wren 

 is a rare breeder in Humboldt County. I have found it breeding only 

 on the lower bars of the Eel and the Van Duzen Rivers. In both of 

 these localities the bars have a lieavy growth of alder, cottonwood, wil- 

 low, blackberries, and grasses. Among this growth are many drift 



