276 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



N. Y., on December 28, 1913 ; and it is reported to occur occasionally in 

 winter near Philadelphia, Pa. 



Egg dates. — Massachusetts: 25 records, May 25 to July 29; 13 

 records, June 1 to July 7, indicating the height of the season. 



New Jersey : 8 records, May 30 to August 20. 



South Dakota : 2 records, June 9 and June 19. 



Wisconsin : 10 records, June 1 to August 19. 



CATHERPES MEXICANUS ALBIFRONS (Girand) 

 WHITE-THROATED WREN 



HABITS 



Four races of this species were recognized in the 1931 Check-list, 

 and five were recognized by Ridgway (1904) ; one of these is strictly 

 Mexican ; and recent investigations have indicated that only two forms 

 should be included in our Check-list. The type race, Catherpes mexi- 

 canus mexicanu^, inhabits the central and southern portions of the 

 Mexican Plateau. According to the above authorities, C. m. alhifrons 

 occupies the northern portion of the Mexican Plateau and extends its 

 range into central western Texas, near the mouth of the Pecos River. 

 Recent faunal investigations have extended this range considerably. 

 Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) referred to this race the canyon wrens 

 collected in the Chisos Mountains in Brewster County ; and Burleigh 

 and Lowery (1940) collected a number of specimens of it in the 

 Guadalupe Mountains, close to the New Mexico line. Both of these 

 localities are far removed from the mouth of the Pecos River where it 

 empties into the Rio Grande. It seems fair to assume that this will 

 prove to be the breeding form throughout the whole of extreme 

 western Texas. 



According to Ridgway (1904) , this subspecies is similar to the type 

 race in size, with a bill averaging longer, but the coloration is "much 

 paler, the general color of upper parts more grayish brown chestnut 

 of abdomen, etc., paler, and black bars on tail averaging narrower." 



The specimens collected in the Chisos Mountains were taken mainly 

 between 5,000 and 6,000 feet elevation, and in the Guadalupe Moun- 

 tains at elevations ranging fi'om 6,000 to 8,000 feet; in the latter 

 locality this wren "was never known to venture to the foot of the 

 mountains." 



Nesting. — The nesting habits of the white-throated wren are ap- 

 parently not different from those of canyon wrens elsewhere. There 

 is a set of four eggs, with the nest, in tlie Thayer collection in 

 Cambridge that was taken in Nueva Leon, Mexico, on April 12, 1911, 

 for F. B. Armstrong. It was in a snug corner of a crevice in the 

 rock on the perpendicular wall of a canyon, about a hundred feet 

 from the base of the cliff. The nest is made of mosses, lichens, and 



