CANYON WREN 281 



straw, 11/4 to 8^/4 iuches long; 43 pine catkins; 4 pieces of wire insulation ma- 

 terial, Ys to 2^4 inches long ; 14 Supreme paper clips ; 1 Ideal paper clip, 3 inches 

 in length ; 628 Gem paper clips ; 14 T pins ; 1 2-inch safety pin ; 582 common 

 pins ; 28 rubber bands ; 1 three-coil spring ; 1 screw top from LePage's glue con- 

 tainer ; 11 steel pen points ; 19 thumb tacks ; 2 small screws ; 11 galvanized cup- 

 head tacks ; 1 carpet tack ; 2 insulation tacks ; 67 rusty nails ; 2 small pieces of 

 rawhide shoe lace; 1 3-inch darning needle; 69 Star paper fasteners; 3 small 

 pieces of insulated wire; 27 pieces of wire (5 copper), all short; 1 steel tape 

 tip; 87 matches (three unburnt) ; 4 toothpicks. 



This grand total of 1,791 countable things, while haphazardly placed was 

 held firmly by a filling of i/^ pound of the following: Cobwebs, lint, dust, tliread, 

 sawdust, wood shavings, bits of paper, broom straw, twine, rope, plaster board, 

 pine needles, splinters, shreds and pieces of pine bark, and asbestos, shells, and 

 gauzy wings of insects, an air-mail label, horsehair, small pieces of walnut shell, 

 triangle of glass (14 inch base and 1 inch in length), and an Eversharp pencil 

 lead. 



The nest proper was so firmly fastened to the foundation that it was not easy 

 to dislodge. It was 4 x 5^^ inches with an outside depth of 3% inches. It was 

 composed of very small pieces of straw, pine needles, string, rope, thread, and 

 twigs. It was a solid mat made by clever filling of dust, lint, and dog and horse 

 hairs. The upper 2 inches were very soft, made entirely of padding filched from 

 mattresses. Into this was hollowed the cup for the eggs, 2^^ inches across at 

 the rim and 1% at the bottom, the depth being % of an inch. 



The nest proper weighed only an ounce, while that of the entire structure was 

 2%6 pounds. 



Mr. Simmons (1925) says that, in the Austin region of Texas, the 

 canyon wren nests "rarely, in holes in cedar fence posts, eaves of out- 

 houses and rafters of barns, crevices about rock buildings, cross-braces 

 underneath houses and cabins, under cornices of verandas, and in 

 chimneys of uninhabited houses; before abundance of the European 

 House Sparrow, nested in mail boxes as commonly as does the Texas 

 Long-tailed Wren." 



Mrs. Amelia S. Allen tells me of a nest that "was placed inside a 

 crude lean-to made of rusty oil cans. The rusty red of the wren 

 matched exactly the color of the tin." 



Eggs. — The canyon wren usually lays 5 or 6 eggs to a set, some- 

 times only 4 and rarely more than 6. These vary from ovate to nearly 

 elliptical-ovate. The ground color is pure, clear white. The eggs are 

 usually very sparingly marked with fine dots of reddish brown, some- 

 times so faintly marked as to appear immaculate; more rarely the 

 markings are small spots of darker brown, which even more rarely 

 may be concentrated about the larger end. Apparently they are never 

 as heavily marked as are other wrens' eggs. The measurements of 50 

 eggs of the canyon wren and the dotted wren combined average 17.9 

 by 13.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 19.8 by 13.7, 17.7 by 14.1, 16.8 by 12.7, and 17.5 by 12.6 millimeters. 

 These were selected at random from the large series in the United 

 States National Museum. 



Behavior. — Grinnell and Storer ( 1924) mention the following items 



