"88s-] Batchelder, Winter Notes from Ne-w Mexico. 2 ?? 



WINTER NOTES FROM NEW MEXICO. 



BY CHARLES F. BATCHELDER. 



( Concluded from p. 128.) 



Scattered along the river for a mile or so below the hotels 

 are a number of small cliffs or precipitous outcrops of sandstone 

 thirty or forty feet high. Their faces, which come down close 

 to the water, are broken by many clefts and narrow gullies, and 

 large blocks split off from their sides lie here and there piled 

 one upon another. These were a favorite resort of the Canon 

 Wren ( Catherpes tuexicanus) . They were not a very abun- 

 dant bird, but single birds were apt to be met with in such places 

 as these, which seemed to suit their tastes so well. What they 

 want is rocks piled in confusion, the more abruptly perpen- 

 dicular the better, among whose clefts and interstices they can 

 skip and dodge about to their heart's content. They evidently 

 prefer a place that is close to a stream, but in one or two in- 

 stances I met with one in some dry little ravine back among the 

 hills where he seemed contented among some loose rocks or 

 even about fallen trees and up-turned stumps. They are quick 

 in their motions, restless and shy. Their flight, for they occa- 

 sionally fly considerable distances, is swift and low. At this 

 season of the year I had not the pleasure of hearing their beau- 

 tiful song, so enthusiastically described by more fortunate 

 observers. However, though the breeding song was not to be 

 heard, they were far from silent. The commonest note is a 

 peculiar, loud, harsh, penetrating cry, not unlike the ordinary 

 cry of the Nighthawk, and can be heard at a long distance. Be- 

 sides this note I one day heard one repeatedly utter a sharp ped- 

 body, the first syllable being rather prolonged and having the 

 principal accent. The quality of the notes was about the same 

 as that of the ordinary call-note. In illustration of one peculiar 

 habit I quote the following from my notebook under date of 

 December 23 : "This forenoon I heard a Canon Wren under my 

 window, and looking out I saw him hopping about on the 

 gravel. He presently flew to the hotel's extensive wood-pile 

 and moved about on it for some time, uttering his loud harsh 

 cry almost incessantly. I watched him sitting on the edge of 



