284 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



comes tripping down the scale growing so fast it seems as if the song- 

 ster could only stop by giving his odd little flourish back up the scale 

 again at the end. The ordinary song has seven descending notes, but 

 often, as if out of pure exurberance of happiness, the wren begins 

 with a run of grace notes, ending with the same little flourish. The 

 rare character of the song is its rhapsody and the rich vibrant quality 

 which has suggested the name of bugler for him, — and a glorious little 

 bugler he surely is." Ralph Hoffmann (1927) says: "From the bare 

 grim walls of rock the Canon Wren pours out a cascade of sweet liquid 

 notes, like the spray of a waterfall in sunshine. The opening notes are 

 single staccato notes followed by long-drawn double notes, tsee-i, tsee-i, 

 slower and descending in pitch, ending with still lower too-ee too-ee 

 too-ee.^^ Mr. Simmons (1925) says that this wren sings from late 

 February to November in Texas, and describes the call note as "a clear, 

 ringing, rather measured, slightly quickened peupp, peupp, peupp, 

 peupp, peupp, each slightly lower in key and pitch than the last, but 

 never approaching a trill." Mr. Scott (1885) says that "the female 

 sings quite as much as the male." Charles F. Batchelder (1885) calls 

 the commonest winter note "a peculiar, loud, harsh, penetrating cry, 

 not unlike the ordinary cry of the Nighthawk, and can be heard at a 

 long distance. Besides this note I one day heard one repeatedly utter 

 a sharp ped-hody, the first syllable being rather prolonged and having 

 the principal accent." 



Field marks. — The most conspicuous field mark of the canyon wren 

 is the gleaming white throat, which extends well down onto the breast 

 and contrasts strongly with the chestnut-brown abdomen ; this latter 

 feature will distinguish it at a glance from the rock wren, which is 

 sometimes seen in somewhat similar surroundings. The rock wren's 

 tail has a conspicuous black subterminal band and whitish tips, whereas 

 the tail of the canyon wren has no terminal bands and only a few 

 narrow dusky bars. The back of the canyon wren is dotted with 

 whitish. 



SALPINCTES OBSOLETUS OBSOLETUS (Say) 



COMMON ROCK WREN 



Plates 54, 55 



HABITS 



Our northern race of the rock wrens occupies a wide range in 

 western North America, from the western edge of the Great Plains 

 to the Pacific slope, and through much of northern Mexico. Allied 

 races occur in Mexico and Central America. Throughout its range 

 north of the Mexican boundary its characters are remarkably stable; 

 there seems to be no reason for attempting to split it into subspecies ; 

 this is in marked contrast with what has been done with such plastic 



