

Cactus and Rock Wrens 695 



the Wrens are mainly insectivorous, though they occasionally eat worms, crus- 

 taceans, small mollusks, and seeds. 



The Wrens are a numerous contingent, comprising more than two hundred 

 and fifty species and subspecies disposed among twenty odd genera. They 

 have their center of distribution in the tropical regions of America, whence 

 they range as far north as Labrador and Alaska and south to Patagonia ; while 

 in the Old World they are but poorly represented, not more than half a dozen 

 genera and thirty forms finding a home there, and these mainly restricted to 

 Europe and the temperate parts of Asia, chiefly the latter. Inasmuch as nearly 

 half of the genera are of large size, embracing from fifteen to forty forms, it 

 will be only necessary to select a few which may adequately serve as representa- 

 tives of the others. 



Cactus Wrens. Passing over the small South American genus of large so- 

 called Brown Wrens (Cinnicerthia), in which the length of the tail greatly exceeds 

 that of the wing, we may first consider the large group of Cactus Wrens (Heleo- 

 dytes), which range from the southwestern border of the United States and 

 Lower California throughout Central and South America to Brazil and Bolivia. 

 These are the largest of the Wrens, some of them attaining a length of over eight 

 inches; most of the species are very much spotted, streaked, and barred both 

 above and below. Of these the Brown-headed Cactus Wren (H. brunneicapillus) 

 ranges through central Mexico, and in two geographical races into the south- 

 western United States, extending as far north as southwestern Utah. It fre- 

 quents the most arid and desolate regions of this country, where, as its name 

 suggests, it finds a congenial retreat amidst the impenetrable cactus thickets 

 and other dense undergrowth, now skulking from sight, now mounting to the 

 tops of the bushes, "to scold in a loud, harsh tone, or to utter the notes of its 

 clear and ringing song." It is very abundant in suitable situations and con- 

 structs, after the manner of its kind, a very bulky purse-shaped nest placed at a 

 low elevation in cacti and in a horizontal position, with the small entrance at 

 one side; it is composed of sticks, thorny twigs, grasses, etc., and lined with 

 feathers. The eggs, four to six in number, are creamy white, very thickly dotted 

 with reddish brown ; two or three broods of young are reared in a year. 



Rock Wrens. Omitting a large genus of rather slender-billed tropical 

 American Wrens (Thryophilus), mention may be made of the Rock Wrens (Sal- 

 pinctes), so called from their frequenting rocks among which they skulk and 

 hide. Of the five or six forms the best-known is the true Rock Wren (S. obsole- 

 tus] of the western United States, where it sometimes reaches to an altitude of 

 12,000 feet. About six inches long, it is pale grayish brown, minutely dotted 

 with blackish and whitish above and soiled white obscurely streaked with 

 dusky below. "It is a constant resident of the piles of loose rock which lie 

 scattered on the mountain side, in which it finds its food and rears its young, 

 and to which it retreats for safety on being alarmed." It builds a bulky nest 

 of sticks, grasses, moss, hair, wool, etc., placing it in a crevice among rocks or 

 some similar situation, and lays from four to eight pure white eggs which are 

 thickly specked with dark brown. 



