228 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



immature individuals. The birds of the summer brood remain 

 together for several weeks after leaving the nest, and in little troops 

 of three or four they come fearlessly about houses and perform all 

 manner of clownish antics and acrobatics, all to the accompaniment 

 of a rollicking chatter. I have seen one start from the seat of a 

 wicker chair, run nimbly up the back and over the top, and hang 

 head downward on the other side; often they race back and forth 

 along the ridge of a building with exultant squawks, perhaps cling- 

 ing to the edge of the roof and twisting their necks to peer under- 

 neath. Their curiosity is insatiable ; everything must be climbed over, 

 all packages, receptacles, cracks, and crannies looked into and any- 

 thing inside pulled out if possible. Though the adults lose some 

 of the frivolity, the attitude of good humor seems to remain, and 

 quarrels are few. The only actual battle I recall seeing resulted when 

 one immature bird attempted to bring material to a nest being built 

 by another. 



Both the cactus wren's food and its hunting grounds are much the 

 same as those of the thrashers, but its manner of foraging is strik- 

 ingly different from the strenuous methods of the latter. The cactus 

 wren approaches a leaf or other movable object, inserts its bill care- 

 fully under one side, and raises it up, meanwhile peering beneath in 

 readiness to seize any small creature thus revealed. The bird runs 

 rather swiftly but usually flies if going any considerable distance. 

 Its flights are ordinarily comparatively short, direct, and close to 

 the ground. 



Writing of the winter birds of Palm Springs, on the western 

 edge of the Colorado Desert, where the cacti, though abundant, are 

 not of large stature. Dr. Grinnell (1904) includes the following note 

 on the cactus wren : "Fairly common out on the desert ; and also, as 

 surprised me when I first found them, in Palm Canyon. In the latter 

 locality they made themselves at home among the drooping dead 

 leaves beneath the green heads of the lofty palms. The birds could 

 be plainly heard rattling about inside, but were difficult to drive out. 

 Doubtless such palm-leaf bowers afforded insect food in plenty, as 

 well as a well-protected retreat." 



Alexander F. Skutch (1935, 1940) has reported the communal 

 roosting of the banded cactus wren {Heleodytes zonatus) and the 

 hooded cactus wren {H. capistratus) in Central America, as many as 

 11 of the former having been found sleeping together in one nest. 

 This habit does not appear to be shared by our northern species, 

 except when the members of a recently fledged brood return at night 

 to the nest in which they were hatched. That one or both of the 

 parents sometimes keep them company might be inferred from the 

 previously quoted account by Mrs. Ayer, though the quarters must 

 be somewhat cramped. 



