THE WRENS 1685 



warbling wren (Cyphorhinus cantans} of the forests of Amazonia. " When its sin- 

 gular notes strike the ear for the first time,'' writes Bates, " the impression cannot 

 be resisted that they are produced by a human voice; some musical boy must be 

 gathering fruits in the thicket, and singing a few notes to cheer himself. The 

 tones become more fluty and plaintive; they are now those of a flageolet, and, not- 

 withstanding the utter impossibility of the thing, one is for a moment convinced 

 that someone is playing that instrument. . . . It is the only songster that 

 makes an impression on the natives, who sometimes rest their paddles while travel- 

 ing in their small canoes along the shady bypaths, as if struck by the mysterious 

 sound." 



The adult cock bird of the common wren has the upper parts reddish brown, 

 banded, except the head, with numerous blackish-brown bars; the eyebrows being 

 dull white, as are also the under parts, although varied with rufous. In Iceland and 

 the Faroes this wren is replaced by the northern wren ( T. borealis) , which is larger, 

 darker, and has the under parts more strongly barred. 



c t w Some twenty species are included in this group, all of which possess 



a stout compressed bill. The wings are broad, the tail graduated and 

 fan shaped, and the claws of the feet strong and much curved. Chiefly inhabitants 

 of Central and South America, the true cactus wren {Campy lorhynchus brunneica- 

 pillus) is found in California and Texas. Of the habits of this wren, Dr. Coues 

 gives the following description, observing that in "the most arid and desolate re- 

 gions of the Southwest, where the cacti flourish with wonderful luxuriance, 

 covering the impoverished tracts of volcanic debris with a kind of vegetation only 

 less ugly and forbidding than the very scoria, this wren makes its home and places 

 its nests on every hand in the thorny embrace of the repulsive vegetation. True to 

 the instincts and traditions of the wren family, it builds a bulky and conspicuous 

 domicile, and when many are breeding together the structures become as noticeable 

 as the nests which a colony of marsh wrens build in the heart of the swaying reeds. 

 But it is not a globular mass of material, nor yet a cup; it is like a purse or pouch 

 and also peculiar in its position, for such nests are usually pensile. In the present 

 case, the nest resembles a flattened flask, more exactly, it is like the nursing bottle 

 with which all mothers are familiar, and this is laid horizontally on its flat side in 

 the crotch of a cactus. It is constructed of grasses and small twigs woven or matted 

 together, and lined with feathers. Including the covered way or neck of the bottle, 

 leading to the nest proper, the structure is some ten or twelve inches long and 

 rather more than half as much in breadth. The bird appears to be an early breeder. 

 Dr. Cooper found it preparing to build nests about San Diego so early as the 

 twenty-sixth of February. The eggs are white, but so thickly flecked with small 

 salmon-colored spots, that a rich cast of. this tint is given to the whole surface. ' ' 



