648 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



barred with brownish gray and dusky; beneath dull whitish, tinged on flanks with 

 pale cinnamon, the lower tail-coverts barred, or transversely spotted, with black- 

 ish, and the chest usually more or less speckled or streaked -with dusky (some- 

 times immaculate). Young with top of head, hind-neck, and back plain rusty 

 grayish, and the lower parts plain whitish anteriorly, plain pale cinnamon on flanks 

 and under tail-coverts. Nest usually in clefts or crevices among rocks, sometimes 

 in hollow stumps or about buildings. Eggs pure white, finely and sparsely speckled, 

 chiefly on or round larger end, with chestnut-brown (sometimes nearly immacu- 

 late^ 



a 1 . Lighter and grayer, with chest, etc., less distinctly speckled ; wing and tail 

 longer, bill and tarsi shorter; length 5.12-6.35, wing 2.68-2.80 (2.77), tail 

 2.12-2.40 (2.27), bill from nostril .44-.54 (.49), tarsus .76-.80 (.79), middle toe 

 .52-.60 (.56). Eggs .73 X -57. Hab. Arid regions of western United States, 

 east to the Great Plains, south over table-lands of Mexico and Guatemala to 

 Salvador 715. S. obsoletus (SAY). Rock Wren. 



a 2 . Darker and browner, with chest, etc., more distinctly speckled ; wing and tail 



shorter, bill and tarsi longer ; wing 2.55-2.75 (2.62), tail 2.00-2.30 (2.20), bill 



from nostril .55-.60 (.59), tarsus .80-.90 (.85), middle toe .50-.55 (.52). Eggs 



.75 X -59, usually (?) plain white. Hab. Guadalupe Island, Lower California. 



716. S. guadeloupensis EIDGW. Guadalupe Rock Wren. 



GENUS CATHERPES BAIRD. (Page 540, pi. CXXI., fig. 4.) 



Species. 



COMMON CHARACTERS. Prevailing color brown, the anterior lower parts white, 

 or else decidedly paler than posterior portions, the latter more or less speckled with 

 white or dusky (sometimes both) ; tail (in C. mexicanus 1 ') clear cinnamon-rusty, 

 crossed by narrow, distinct, and rather distant bars of black. Young essentially 

 like adults, but usually without white specks on upper parts or posterior lower 

 parts, which are instead mottled, more or less, with dusky. Nest in crevices of 

 rocks, various odd nooks about buildings, and similar situations. Eggs 3-5, or more, 

 pure white, rather sparsely speckled, chiefly on larger end, with reddish brown and 

 lilac-gray. 



a 1 . Smaller (exposed culmen less than 1.00, tarsus not more than .80) ; chin, throat, 

 and chest white, in marked (though not abrupt) contrast with rusty of pos- 

 terior lower parts; upper parts brownish (varying from light cinnamon- 

 grayish to rusty brown and sepia), speckled with white and dusky (with 

 dusky alone in young) ; wings rusty brown, narrowly barred with dusky. 

 6 1 . Larger and darker colored ; above dark rusty brown, varying to sepia, the 

 wings barred with rusty; black bars on tail broader, those on outer 

 feather about .08-.10 wide ; length about 6.00-6.50, wing 2.40-2.90 (2.72), 

 tail 2.30-2.45 (2.37), exposed culmen .70-.95 (.87), bill from nostril .55- 



1 In the single known specimen of 0. eumichrasti LAWR. the tail is, unfortunately, wanting. 



