140 XOHTH AMKKJCA.V ItlK'DS. 



as piled up thick and hi,I,. Tl.oy were .lartin. Iron, rock to rock and 

 -ejnng anjong tl.e crevices witl. ...at activity, constantly ..peatin, tl^ 



.t^dithcult to procure a specunen. He did not observe this bird anywhere 



Their occurrence equally in such wild and desolate regions and in . .e midst 

 of crowded c. .es ind.cates that the abundance of thei^ food in either place 



^^ IHM, first observed they were supposed to nest exclusively in .leep and i„- 

 accessjble crev,ces of rocks, where they were not likely to be traced. Mr 

 H. K Dresser afterwards n.et with its nest and eggs in A\ astern Texas, thou-h 

 h g,ves no descnpfon of either. He found this species rather conunon n^x 

 Km Antonio, where it ren.a.ned to breed. One pair fre,,uented a printing- 

 o^hc a hat place an old half-ruine,! building, where th'eir familiar habits 

 made them great favorites with the workmen, who informed hi.u that the 

 previous spring they had built a nest and reared their young in an old wall 

 c^e^by^ and that they berime ve.y tame. At D. Heennann's rancho .I 

 he Medina he procured the eggs of this bird, as well as those of the 

 Louisiana and Bewick's Wren, by nailing up cigar-boxes, with holes cut in 

 tiont, wherever these birds were likely to build. 



Mr. Suniiehrast describes its nesti as very skilfullv wrought with sinders' 

 webs, and built m the crevices of old walls, or in the interstices between the 

 tiles under the roots of the houses. A nest with four eggs, supposed to be 

 those of this si)ecies, was ol)tained in Western Texas by Mr J H Clark • it 

 was cup-sha,,ed, not large, and with only a slight dq.ression. The e.-s 

 lour ,n number, were unusually oblong and pointed for eggs .if this fa.nllv' 

 a.ul measured .80 by ..;(. of an inch, with a crystalline-white ground, pro- 

 fiisely covered with numerous an.l large blotches of a re.ldish or cinnamon 



So far as the observations of Mr. liidgway enabled him to notice this bird 

 he found It much less common than the ^./ph,;. „lsoh;„s, and inhabiti,,.: 

 on y the most seclude.1 and rocky recesses of the mountains. Its common 

 noe o alarm is des,.ribed as a peculiarly ringing ,,Jnk. It 'uas a remark- 

 . l.lv o.ld and indescribably singular chant, utterly unlike anythin.. el.se Mr 

 l>.<lgway ever l.eanl. This consisted of a series of detached wl^istles l,e- 

 Minn.ng ,n a high tine key, every note clear, snu,otli. and of equal leiioth 

 each 1,1 succession being a .legree lower than the ,,receding one, and ,n.i; 

 ending when the bottom of the s,.ale is reache.l. The tone is .soft, ricli 

 and^ silvery, resembling somewhat the whistling of the Cardinal Gros- 



It was often seen to fly nearly perpen.licularly up the face of a rocky wall 

 and was also noticed to cling to the roof of a cave with all the facility of a 

 true Creeper. , 



' Thi.s icrimrk iipj.lics to tin- Mcxicni iiicc 



