TROGLODYTIDJE — THE WRENS — CATHERPES. 



65 



ahvays actively engaged in hunting for insects in the crevices and low herb- 

 age, sometimes in autumn in families of five or six. 



A nest brought to me from a pile of wood on the bank of the Upper Alis- 

 souri, in .hine, 1860, was comjjosed of a h.iose flooring of sticks, lined with a 

 great quantity of feathers of various birds, and contained nine eggs of a red- 

 dish color, thickly spotted with chocolate. I have found nests at San Diego 

 in the cavities under tiled roofs, but always Avitli young hatched, as early 

 as May. 



Their song begins to be heard at Fort ilojave in February, and continues 

 through the spring. It is much more like that of the Sickle-biUs than that 

 of other VTens, being sweet and varied, but not very loud. 



I did not observe them in the Colorado Valley after May 15th, and pre- 

 sume that most of them retired to the cooler mountains. Neither ha\'e I 

 seen them towards the summits of the Sierra Xe\-ada, biit on tlieir eastern 

 side tliey doulitless range to a liigli elevation, having Ijeeu found at Kla- 

 math Lake, Oregon, by Dr. Newberry. 



Genus CATHERPES, B.vird. 



Catherpes, B.urd, V. R. Rep. IX. Birds, 1858, 3.')6. 



Gen. Cn.\n. Bill lonn;t'r than the head, .^lender, all the outlines nearly straight to the 

 tip, then pently deeurved, gonys least so : nostrils linear ; tarsus short, abo\it equal to the 

 middle toe, which reaches to the middle of the middle claw. Outer toe considerably 



C. Mexicamis. 



