282 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



that are not recorded under the other subspecies: "Like the Rock 

 Wren, the Canon Wren has acquired a special flatness of body struc- 

 ture, which is an obvious adaptation to allow it passage through 

 horizontal crevices. * * * The bird's legs (tarsi) are short and 

 are held at an acute angle with the surface on which it is travelling, 

 so that the body is close to the substratum. At intervals of 2 to 12 

 seconds the hinder parts are slowly raised and then instantaneously 

 depressed. So quickly and violently is this done that the whole body 

 is drawn into the movement." 



Young. — Dr. Wetmore (1921) says of a brood of young that he ob- 

 served near Williams, Ariz. : 



On July 8 a female was found feeding young in the canyon south of town. The 

 young, three in number, though not fully fledged, had left the nest and reposed 

 at the bottom of a cleft in the rock in a space 2 inches wide. * * * The labor 

 of caring for them seemed to be left entirely to the female, though the male was 

 in the vicinity. The female came and went fearlessly carrying food, in the form 

 of brown cricliets with elongated antennae, paying little attention to me as I 

 peered in the crevice with my face barely two feet away. After feeding she car- 

 ried away excrement exactly as though the young were in the nest. The young 

 were able to climb up and down the steepest rock surfaces with no difficulty what- 

 ever. When placed m the open, they became more alert and after a minute or so 

 clambered away toward shelter. The heat of the sun, though apparently mild, 

 affected them severely so that they panted heavily and closed their eyes seeming 

 almost overpowered; it is probable that never before had they felt its rays. 

 The call note for food was a faint tsee tsee. 



Plumages. — I have seen no very young canyon wrens. Young birds 

 in Juvenal plumage look much like the adults, but the colors are all 

 duller ; there are few if any white spots on the upperparts, which are 

 more or less mottled or vermiculated with dusky; the rich brown of 

 the abdominal region is paler and is immaculate rather than spotted. 

 I have seen birds in this plumage as late as August 17 and 30, but usu- 

 ally the postjuvenal molt of young birds and the postnuptial molt of 

 adults apparently occurs during the last two weeks of August and the 

 first two weeks of September. 



Food. — No comprehensive study of the food of the canyon wren 

 seems to have been made. It probably does not differ materially from 

 the food of other western wrens, consisting mainly, if not wholly, of 

 insects and spiders. Its feeding habits are evidently of no economic 

 importance in its native wilderness, and, even when living in towns, 

 it apparently does no harm and probably destroys many troublesome 

 insects. 



Behavior. — The canyon wren is usually heard long before it is 

 seen. We hear the loud, ringing song echoing from the walls of the 

 canyon and scan the rocky cliffs to find the tiny source of such a 

 soul-filling outburst of melody. We catch a glimpse of his gleam- 

 ing white throat before we can make out the outlines of the bird, 

 for the browns of body, wings, and tail blend well into the back- 



