Gbe Warbler 9 



still reeks of the "cares that infest the day." But one very strongly believes; 

 that the pot-hole imputation lives on because the more superficial observer 

 just finds the pot-hole nests; and never finds the other, more common kinds. 

 Indeed, the Rock Wren does frequent the canyon walls of sand-stone. This 

 is, in fact, his most continually-favored haunt. But the nestings, in greater 

 part, lie quite otherwhere; least-wise, in earth-quake-rent Wyoming. We 

 read, a moment ago, about the dreariness of the desert. In winter-time, es- 

 pecially, the desolation almost astonishingly accentuates itself. An occa- 

 sional jack-rabbit shoots out from the sage brush, as one plods through it, 

 amid the scuff of remnants of spitefully hurtled snow. Rarely a Horned 

 Lark leaves a track behind him, in the little snow patches. But, as for the 

 whole, bird sights and bird sounds are nil, most winter days. The Crossbill 

 may be in full song; and the Solitaire bubbles forth his rich, glad lay. But 

 these live, wintrally. in haunts far deeper of tree-covert than those wherein 

 the naturalist loves to wander, during the Winter days that are continually 

 suggestive of Spring. 



When mid-April passes and the air grows balmy, then, some day, there 

 comes, delightingly suggested, rather than sung to the ear of the student, a 

 renewal to his recollection of some one of the many varied forms of the 

 Rock Wren's call. These appear to be often quite rather imagined than act- 

 ually heard: so delicate are they, and so faintly yet so clearly perceived. 

 Really, the photographic student of birds who grows familiar with Rock Wren 

 songs quite often finds himself whimsically comparing the notes of this 

 bird with the details of beauty in some soft, well-balanced negative; which 

 brings back to the habitant of regions-once-familiar a thrill of deepest pleasured 

 as all their old delights are suggested to his soul anew. 



By mid-May the Rock Wren has become an old-timer, among the crags 

 and along the talus. He has been watched, most furtively, from behind se- 

 curest hiding places. He has been spotted, with all the wariness and patient 

 vigilance of any old detective. Yet he has never been betrayed into doing 

 anything but just sing,— sing, — and hunt, with untiring zeal,for his food among 

 the crannies of the rocks. Yes, — one may find nests: plenty of them. They 

 are indestructible, save through erosion. Like the "remains" of the cliff-dwel- 

 lers, they are common, indeed. They are, in fact, so common as to give the 

 un-accustomed, to whom such nests are shown, the impression that the birds, 

 also, are common. This, — alas ! — is far from true. The Rock W 7 ren in 

 Wyoming is not prolific; and it has many, many enemies. It is possible that 

 the "talus-habit" may have been acquired by the Rock Wren because of the 

 readiness with which rats and mice may plunder nests that are built into 

 the pot-holes. It is quite fair for even a bird to argue; that it must be much 

 more difficult for vermin to find a nest hidden under someone of a dozen or 

 twenty rocks that look almost exactly alike; than to find the same nest in 



