370 



U. S. p. E. E. EXP. AND SUEVETS — ZOOLOGT — GENBEAIi EEPOET. 



The preceding pages include all tlie wrens assigned by more recent writers td the United 

 States, with the exception of T. maculosa, Nuttall, described from a specimen seen in a thicket 

 in Oregon. There is no known species to which this can be is assigned, unless the description 

 is erroneous, as might readily be the case under the circumstances of observation.^ 



Sub-Family CHAMAEANAE. 



CHAMAEA, Gambel. 



Chamaea, Gambel, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ill, 1847, 154. (Type Parusfasciatns.) 



Ch. — Bill shorter than the head, much compressed. Rictus with long bristles. Tarsus much longer than the toes ; without 

 well marked scales . Lateral toes equal . Wings short, much rounded ; two-thirds the length of the tail, which is much graduated ; 

 the lateral feathers two-thirds the longest . Plumage very soft and lax . 



In this genus the bill is short and much compressed from the middle, broader than high at 

 the base. The culmen is straight half way, then considerably curved ; the gonys nearly 

 straight, but ascending. The bill is not notched ; nor are the nostrils concealed by incumbent 

 bristles, though a few of these, of large size, with lateral setae, are directed forward. The 

 nostrils are elongated and narrow, though short and overhung by a scale. The bristles at the 

 base of the bill are quite long and conspicuous, measuring a quarter of an inch. The tarsi are 

 very long, and exhibit- no divisions of scutellae (except obsoletely) on the inner side. The 

 claws are moderate : the hinder as long as the rest of the toe. The wings are short and much 

 rounded; the first five primaries much graduated; the third scarcely longer than the primaries. 

 The tail feathers are very long and subtruncate. 



I am not sure that I have correctly indicated the place of Chamaea, though there is no other 

 family to which it could so readily be referred. The strongly bristled rictus separates it widely 

 from the wrens, as does also the broad depressed character of the base of the bill. The bristly 

 character of the frontal feathers is quite peculiar in the group. It has been placed among the 

 titmice, but is easily distinguished from them by the free character of most of the basal joints 

 of the middle toe, the absence of a sheath of bristly feathers around the base of the bill, &c. 

 It is, however, very similar, and probably connects the t'yo families. 



Comparative measurements. 



CHAMAEA FASCIATA, Gambel. 



Parusfasciatus, Gambel, Pr. A. N. S. 11, Aug. 1845, 265. 



Chamaea fasciata, Gambel, Pr. A. N. S. Ill, Feb. 1847, 154. (Type of genus.)— Ib. J. A. N. S. 2d Series, I, 1847, 



34; pi. viii, f. 3.— CABANis.Wiegmann's Archiv, 1848, i, 102.— Bp. Consp. 1850, 206.— Cassin, 



111.1,11,1853,39; pi. vii. 



Sp. Ch. — Wings scarcely two-thirds the length of the tail; both very much graduated. Upper and outer parts generally 

 (including the whole tail) olivaceous brown, tinged with gray on the head ; beneath pale brownish cinnamon, with obsolete 



' Troglodytes maculosa, Ndttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840, 492. — Above cinereous gray; side of the throat and breast with whitish 

 spots. Mouth of the Columbia and near Santa Barbara. 



