i+ 
le, MY 
2 ee ee sy, 
WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 277 
Young: Similar to adults, but streaks on back less distinct, spots on 
under parts smaller, and colors more suffused. 
Geographical Distribution: Southwestern border of United States from 
Southern Texas to coast of Southern California, south into Mexico, 
north to Utah. 
California Breeding Range: Lower Sonoran zone in Southern California, 
on both sides of the Sierra Nevada. 
Breeding Season: April 15 to August 1. 
Nest: Placed in cactus or thorny bushes; flask-shaped, with an entrance 
at one end; made of little twigs and grasses ; lined with feathers. 
Eggs: 4 to 7; white or creamy white, thickly covered with reddish 
brown spots. Size 0.97 X 0.65. 
Unuess you have heard the Cactus Wren sing, you 
will wonder at the science that classes him with the 
wrens. But when you listen to the rich, ringing, wren- 
like song, and come upon the singer sitting on a thorny 
twig in the exact attitude of the thrashers, with lifted 
bill and tail curved downward, you are satisfied to leave 
his name among the wren family. He sings constantly 
as well as sweetly. His clear notes are the first to 
waken the weary camper in the morning, and oftentimes 
they alone break the death-like hush of evening. The 
Leconte thrasher runs him a close race in this, but, I 
believe, is always a little short of winning. A spirit 
brave enough to s¢ng in all the dreary waste and scorch- 
ing heat wins your honest admiration, and you try to 
imagine what the parched and silent desert would be 
without these two birds. 
In places it seems as if every other cactus contained a 
nest of this species, so common is it. A long, purse- 
shaped affair, it is laid flat in the fork of a cactus and 
having a doorway at the small end whereby the busy 
brown mother may enter. Another wren-like trait of this 
