606 HISTORY OF THE 



Their nests are placed in low bushes, vines, hedges, and occa- 

 sionally upon the ground; a coarse, bulky structure, the outside 

 usually composed of sticks, rootlets and stems of weeds; within 

 this an inner nest of leaves and strippings from plants, lined 

 with fine rootlets and horse hair. Eggs three to five (usually 

 four), l.OGx. 80; creamy white to pale greenish, thickly dotted 

 with yellowish to reddish brown, confluent around the larger 

 end; in form, oval to rounded oval. 



SUBFAMILY TKOGLODYTIN^E. WRENS. 



"Rictal bristles wanting; the loral feathers with bristly points; the frontal 

 feathers generally not reaching to nostrils. Nostrils varied, exposed or not cov- 

 ered by feathers, and generally overhung by a scale-like membrane. Bill usu- 

 ally without notch (except in some middle American genera). Wings much 

 rounded, about equal to tail, which is graduated. Primaries ten, the first gener- 

 ally about half the second. Basal joint of middle toe usually united to half the 

 basal joint of inner, and the whole of that of the outer, or more. Lateral toes 

 about equal, or the outer a little the longer. Tarsi scutellate." 



GENUS SALPINCTES CABANIS. 



"Bill as long as head; all the outlines nearly straight to the tip, then de- 

 curved; nostrils oval. Feet weak; tarsi decidedly longer than the middle toe; 

 outer lateral toe much longer, reaching to the base of the middle claw, and 

 equal to the hinder. Wings about one-fifth longer than the tail; the exposed 

 portion of the first primary about half that of the second, and two-fifths that of 

 the fourth and fifth. Tail feathers very broad, plain, nearly even or slightly 

 rounded; the lateral moderately graduated." 



Salpinctes obsoletus (SAT). 



ROCK WREN. 

 PLATE XXXIV. 



Summer resident in the middle and western part of the State; 

 common in suitable localities. Arrive early in April; begin 

 laying the first of May; leave in the months of September and 

 October. 



B. 264. R. 58. C. 65. G. 22, 309. U. 715. 



HABITAT. The arid regions of the western United States; 

 north occasionally into British Columbia; east into western 

 Iowa, middle Kansas and Texas; southward through Mexico to 

 Guatemala and the Gulf of Fonseca; breeds largely throughout 

 its range. 



