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THE CACTUS WREN 



{Heleodytes brunneicapillus) 



The neotomas are not alone in their use of 

 cactuses as a means of protection; insects, 

 mice, turtle doves, ladder-backed woodpeckers, 

 Palmer and Le Conte thrashers, and several 

 other birds find in the beneficent spiny masses 

 or under the roots a hiding haven or a place to 

 rear their young. How it happens that they 

 can dodge the spears and daggers in which all 

 their foes are likely to be caught, I cannot say, 

 for never were skins or bodies more tender than 

 theirs. Does each have a guiding spirit or have 

 they all been dipped in the river Styx? 



Among the most clever of these cactus spine- 

 dodgers is the desert cactus wren, which can 

 perch upon the branches or dive into a tree of 

 the awful Bigelow's choUa with perfect im- 

 punity. In fact, the cactus wren finds the com- 

 pany of cactuses so congenial that she not only 

 spends a great deal of her time foraging for 

 insects among their branches, but chooses to 



