THE ROCK WREN. 6"] 



44. THE CAPE CACTUS AA^REN, 



CAMPYl-ORHYNCHUS AFFINIS Xa»tus. 



Allied Creeper Wren. 



There is little dificrence between this and the preceding. It 

 is restricted to the peninsula of Lozver Califorjiia. and is ex- 

 ceedingly abundant at Cape St. Lucas, breeding in immense 

 numbers, where its structures are placed almost exclusively in 

 the cacti antl prickly pear bushes. The nests are large balls or 

 bags of grasses and twigs not difierent from those of the other 

 species. The eggs vary from 1.05 inches to i inch in length 

 and from .70 to .<S'^ of an inch in breadth ; and. like those of 

 the preceding, have a reddish-white ground, uniforml}- and 

 thickly dotted with reddish-brown and tints of purple. 



45. THE ROCK WREN 

 SALPINCTES OBSOJLETUS {Say) Cab. 



Occurs from the Plains to the Pacijic; in Mexico and Lower 

 California ; northward into Montana ; and eastward into Iowa. 

 It haunts the confused piles of broken rocks so characteristic 

 of the western mountains, and is abundant, but like the rest of 

 its ilk also goes into the towns to reside, rearing its young 

 under the tiled roofs of the houses, and in the stone walls and 

 wood-piles of the gardens. It breeds from Montana to Mexico. 

 At Idaho, Colorado, in the heart of the Snowy Range, many 

 nestle, mostly between 6,500 and 9,500 feet of altitude. Al- 

 though it chooses other convenient localities, — a chink between 

 the logs of a cabin, for instance, — its favorite spot is a natural 

 cavity in a bank or ledge of rocks, or the bare ground under 

 an overhanging stratum. The nest is merely a mass of sticks 

 or a pile of grasses, lined with various soft substances, such as 

 thin bark, horsehair, bits of wool or feathers ; and is usually 

 but slightly hollowed and artfully concealed. The variety of 

 rock wren which inhabits the Island of Guadaloupe, ofl' the 



