20 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



says, that the nest is usually placed in a rift or crevice between the bark 

 of a tree and the main wood. In every instance the nest was placed in ^a 

 balsam fir, though spruce, birch, or elm stubs were more numerous. 

 Within a loose scale of bark was crammed a mass of twigs and other 

 rubbish ; upon this was the finer bark of various trees, with an intermix- 

 ture of a little usnea moss and a number of spider's cocoons. * Breeds 



"from Massachusetts northward. Hab. Temperate North America, in wooded regions. 



56. Cactus Wren — campylorhynchus brunneicapillus. White, thickly 

 covered with rich salmon-colored spots; giving a beautiful cast to the 

 entire surface. The eggs are of an oblong-oval shape, slightly pointed at 

 one end, three to five in number, and measure .94 by .63. Mr. Fred. 

 Corey says that he has found fresh eggs of this Wren in April, 

 May, June and July, near Santa Paula. Probably several broods are 

 reared in a season. The nest is long and purse-shaped and very large 

 for the size of the bird, and is usually placed on the branches of a 

 cactus. It is composed of grasses and lined with feathers. My col- 

 lection contains a set of four eggs, collected by B. W. Evermann, near 

 Santa Paula, California. The nest which contained these eggs was placed 



in a prickly pear tree. Hab. Adjacent borders of United States and Me.vico, from the mouth of 

 the Rio Grande to the valley of the Colorado and to the Pacific coast of Southern California. Replaced at 

 Cape St. Lucas by C Affinh. 



o7. S.iint Lucas Cactus Wren — campylorhynchus affinis. Similar to 

 those of the preceding species. Hab. cape st. Lucas. 



58. Rock Wren^SALPiNCTES obsoletus. Crystalline white, sprinkled 

 with distinct reddish-brown dots, usually forming a ring around larger end; 

 the eggs are noted for their rounded oval shape, four to eight and some- 

 times nine in number, size .70 by .62, with considerable variation. The 

 nest is usually built in a rift of rocks, or on the ground beneath some 

 shelving rock. It is composed of a mass of material, very miscellaneous 

 in character, sometimes a single substance, but a variety of materials are 

 more generally used, such as sticks, bark strips, weeds, grasses, moss, 

 hair, wool, etc. Mr. Fred Corey, of Santa Paula, Cal, informs me that 

 he found a nest with four eggs of this bird under rafters of a house. 



Hab. Central regions of United States to Mexico, east to mouth of Yellowstone River, Cape St. Lucas. 



59« . White-throated Wren — catherpes mexicanus conspersus. Crys- 

 talline-white, covered with large blotches of reddish or cinnamon-brown ; 

 usually oblong and pointed for eggs of this family, four in number, size 

 .80 by .60. The nest is built in the crevices of cliffs, and in the interstices 



*In Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, a Quarterly Journal of Ornithology; Cambridge, Mass. 

 vol. iv, pp. 199—209. 



