40 SINGING BIRDS — OSCIXES. 



and a spot above the eye obscurely whitish. Tail feathers with obsolete transverse bars. 

 Length, 6.50; extent, 7.25; wing, 2.25; tail, 3.50. 



Hab. Coast of CaUfornia, north to lat. 38°, ami foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada. 



Tliis curiotis species is very diifereiit in uppearance from the North Amer- 

 ican wrens. Tlie colors are very simple, and the female differs from the 

 above description only in being ratlier smaller, and with the reddish of the 

 under parts less distinct ; the whitish spot over the eye scarcely recognizable. 



This interesting link between tlie wrens and titmice is common ei.'ery- 

 where west of the Sierra Nevada, on dry jilains and hillsides covered with 

 chapparal and other shrubby undergrowth, but is not found in the forests. 

 It is one of those birds that can li\-e where there is iro water, except occa- 

 sional fogs, for six or eight months together. In these dreary " baiTcns," its 

 loud trill is heard more or less throughout the year, but especially on spring 

 mornings, when they answer each other from various parts of the thickets. 

 They have a variety of other notes resembling those of the wrens, and cor- 

 respond with them also in most of their habits, hunting their insect prey in 

 the vicinity of the ground or on low trees, often holding their tails erect, 

 and usually so shy that they can only be seen by patient watching, when 

 curiosity often brings them within a few feet of a person ; and as long as he 

 sits quiet, they will fearlessly hop around him, as if fascinated. 



In tlie last week of April, 1862, 1 fotmd two of their nests near San Diego, 

 built in shrubs about three feet from the ground. They were composed of 

 straws and twigs mixed with feathers, firmly interwoven, tlie cavity 1.80 

 inch wide, and 1.70 deep, lined with grass and hair. The eggs were 0.70 X 

 0..52 inch in size, and pale greenisli blue. 



Family PAPJDiE. 



CiTAr.. Bill generally short; conical, not notched nor decurved at tip. 

 Culmen broad and roimded, not sharp-ridged at base. Nostrils rounded, 

 basal, and concealed by dense bristles or bristly feathers. Loral feathers 

 rough and bristly, directed forwards. Tarsi distinctly scutellate ; basal joints 

 of anterior toes abbreviated ; that of middle toe united about equally for 

 three fourths its length to the lateral ; in Parijiw forming a kind of palm ; 

 outer lateral toe decidedly shorter than inner. Primaries ten, the first much 

 shorter than the second. Tail feathers with soft tips. 



This family is now made by most modern ornithologLsts to include the 

 Nuthatches, notwithstanding the considerable differences in external form. 



