^°1908^^] Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. 53 



fortune to occupy rooms looking out upon the beautiful gardens, and 

 happened frequently to be awake at dawn. In the summer term the birds 

 wliich thronged in the gardens were heard to the greatest advantage 

 shortly after sunrise, and I used to take pleasure in discriminating the 

 various notes of the feathered instrumentalists in this bird symphony. 

 As a rule, the orchestra was in full swing when the Nightingale entered 

 the 'partition' and I can truthfully affirm that he dominated the melodious 

 sea of bird-tone just as effectually as three trombones can and do dominate 

 all the strings of Wagner's immense orchestra. I have no desire to imply 

 that the Nightingale resembles the trombones except in the patent fact 

 that once he 'cMps in' upon the other birds — as many thrushes as you 

 please — you've got to listen to him or shut your window." 



182. Salpinctes obsoletus. Rock Wren. — Summer visitor to both 

 counties. Abundant in the badlands, and on ranches near them replaces 

 the House Wren about buildings. Like the latter, the bird is exceedingly 

 tame and confiding and so falls an easy victim to predatory animals. On 

 August 23, 1906, I interfered to save a Rock Wren from the clutches of a 

 Sparrow Hawk wliich stooped at it just below my window where I sat 

 writing. Rock Wrens arrive about May 15, and begin nesting soon after. 

 They excavate any small hole selected in a steep cut bank or butte, to a 

 depth of six inches, in which a nest is made of dried grass or weeds which 

 may grow near. One nest was constructed almost entirely of a brittle 

 weed which grows in the badlands. Six, seven, or eight eggs are laid. 

 July 3 is the earliest date on which I have seen full feathered young, but 

 nestlings may be fledged any time between this and the beginning of 

 August. At first their plumage is slate-colored above, showing traces of 

 cinnamon, head brown, entire underparts buff, legs pink, but in about a 

 month approximates to that of the parents. Both the latter feed the 

 nestlings assiduously, chiefly on grasshoppers and green caterpillars. 

 Owing to their habit of choosing holes under the overhanging edges of 

 washouts, the nests of Rock Wrens are exposed to annihilation from the 

 frequent land slides. I know of one nest, containing seven eggs, which 

 was thus engulfed, when the sitting bird must have perished, and perhaps 

 her mate as well. 



183. Thryothorus ludovicianus. Carolina Wren. — Rare. Of tliis 

 bird Captain Thorne writes: "Two in May on the divide between Powder 

 and Tongue Rivers. One in May and two in August at Lame Deer, 

 Montana." I have not seen it. 



184. Troglodjrtes aedon aztecus. Western House Wren. — Common 

 summer resident. Nests in all kinds of places, but usually in the holes 

 of trees along the rivers and creeks. Replaced by the Rock Wren in rough 

 pine hills or badlands. An occasional wanderer to my water-troughs in 

 Dawson County. In June, 1893, at my ranch (Custer County) one pair 

 of wrens nested in a hole in a box elder, while another pair occupied the 

 shelf inside an outbuilding. In the latter case the birds made an immense 

 barricade of sticks and the young were full fledged on July 31. On July 1, 



