WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 281 
and send forth his bell-like peal as if he were saying 
‘Right here, right here, here is our nest,’ but when you 
go to the spot he flits off to another rock and sounds the 
same challenge.” If perchance you find the treasure, the 
anxiety of the tiny brown householder manifests itself 
in ludicrous tail-waggings and excited bobbings, together 
with energetic scolding protests. The half-fledged nest- 
lings are soft brown balls of feathers with only a promise 
of the perky little tail of the adults. Apparently they 
have all the nervous activity of their race, for even 
in the nest they wriggle and fuss. 
The Rock Wren’s song, which Mrs. Bailey calls the 
“most unbird-like of machine-made tinklings,” is peculiar 
to himself, and once heard will be recognized instantly 
ever afterwards. 
717a. CANON WREN. —( atherpes mexicanus conspersus. 
Famity: The Wrens, Thrashers, etc. 
Length: 5.50-5.75. 
Adults: Plumage conspicuously brown, except for white throat and 
breast ; upper parts varying from dull brown to cinnamon-grayish 
and speckled with white and blackish; the wings cinnamon-rusty 
and barred with dusky tail light reddish brown with narrow black 
bars ; belly dull reddish brown. 
Young: Similar to adults, but without white spots on upper and poste- 
rior under parts, which are instead mottled more or less with dusky. 
Geographical Distribution: Southwestern United States, north to Wyo- 
ming, east to Texas and Rocky Mountains, south to Lower California 
and Mexico. 
California Breeding Range: Desert ranges southeast of the Sierra 
Nevada. 
Breeding Season : April, May, and June. 
Nest: Generally placed in some deserted tunnel or cave, or in holes in 
