30 
berries and the pulpy seeds of poison oaks also. They eat many 
grasshoppers and other injurious insects. Probably the beneficial 
items of food overbalance the injurious ones. Their songs are part- 
ly composed of imitations of the songs of other birds, but a con- 
siderable part is their own, which is so varied that most people 
think it is also mimetic. 
291. PASADENA THRASHER. Toxostoma redivivum 
pasadenense. 
Common residents of brushy localities from the seacoast to 
the pine region. The food is insects and seeds in about equal 
quantities. Occasionally where a vineyard is bordered by brush- 
land the birds come in from the brush and eat some grapes. They 
are fine singers, but do not imitate other birds. 
292. LECONTE THRASHER. Toxostoma lecontei. 
Rare or infrequent residents of the desert and foothills of the 
eastern part of the county. Taken by me in the San Felipe Valley 
ten miles east of Julian. 
Family TROGLODYTIDAS. Wrens. 
A large family of small birds of world wide distribution, but 
most abundant in the American tropics. They are found in a 
variety of localities, such as thick underbrush in forests, shrubbery, 
tulle swamps, cactus patches, etc. The food is principally insects. 
The species found in cool climates are migratory. Many species 
are fine singers. Beneficial. 
298. NORTHERN CACTUS WREN. Heleodytes 
brunneicapillus couesi. 
Rather common locally in cactus thickets in the eastern part 
of the county. 
294. BRYANT CACTUS WREN. Heleodytes 
brunneicapillus bryanti. 
A considerable proportion of the Cactus Wrens living in the 
region from the seacoast to the foothills are bryanti. Others are 
couesi, while some are probably intermediates; material is lacking 
for positive determination. Formerly Cactus Wrens were abund- 
ant in the “cholla” cactuses, but persistent egg collecting by boys 
has nearly exterminated them. The big nests in the cactuses 
were too easily found. 
295. ROCK WREN. Salpinctes obsoletus. 
Common summer residents of canons and rocky hillsides 
throughout the county. Occasional in winter. 
296. DOTTED CANON WREN. Catherpes mexicanus 
punctulatus. 
Rather common residents of rocky hillsides and canons in the 
foothill region. Sweet singers. Fearless and occasionally enter 
open windows. 
297. SAN DIEGO;WREN. Thryomanes bewicki 
charienturus. 
Common residents of brushy localities. In winter they come 
down from the higher mountains, and in summer most of them 
leave the coast region. 
