140 CANON WREN. 
side of the massive perpendicular walls till it gradually diés away in the distance. No 
technical description would be likely to express the character of these notes, nor explain 
the indelible impression they make upon one who hears them for the first time amid 
the wild and desolate scenes to which they are a fit accompaniment. The song is per- 
fectly simple; it is merely a succession of single whistling notes, each separate and 
distinét, beginning as-high in the scale as the bird can reach, and regularly descending 
the gamut as long as the bird’s breath holds out, or until it reaches the lowest note 
the bird is capable of striking. These notes are loud, clear, and of a peculiarly resonant 
quality; they are uttered with startling emphasis, and I sometimes fancied I detected a 
shade of derision, as if, secure in its own rocky fastnesses, the bird were disposed to 
mock the discomforts and anxieties of a journey through hostile deserts.”’ 
According to Mr. Ridgway, the song is soft, rich, and silvery, resembling some- 
what the whistling of the Cardinal Grosbeak.—In its general habits its behavior is 
always Wren-like. With wonderful agility it threads the mazes of the rocks, and in a 
sly and furtive way it delights to baffle observation and to re-appear unexpectedly in 
another place, to laugh heartily at the perplexity it has occasioned. Although an 
inhabitant of the wild rocky mountain cafions, it sometimes displays familiar traits, 
“coming in friendly spirit about man’s abode, to nest in crevices of walls and buildings, 
or even occupy boxes put up for its accommodation, like Martin, Bluebird, or House 
Wren.” At Dr. Heermann’s rancho on the Medina, in western Texas, this bird, as well 
as the Carolina and Bewick’s Wren, nested in cigar boxes put up for its convenience. 
June 8, 1880, Mr. H. D. Minot found a nest of this Wren at Manitou, Colorado. 
It was in the roof of a cave, about ten feet from the ground, in a niche or pocket, with 
an opening so narrow, vertically, that he could neither look in, nor introduce his hand. 
Fortunately, however, the rock was so soft that he easily removed the bottom slab on 
which the nest rested. This, on looking down upon it, suggested the eastern Wood 
Pewee’s. It was composed of twigs, stalks, and bits of leaves, surrounded by a few 
loose sticks, and thickly felted with down, silk, and a few feathers. The eggs, five in 
number, measured .70 x .50 of an inch, and were crystal-white (rosy, when fresh), sparsely 
speckled and spotted, chiefly about the crown, with medium dull brown. 
The true species, known as the WHITE-THROATED WREN, Catherpes mexicanus 
Bairp, is found in Mexico, and according to Giraud, also in Texas. 
NAMES: CaNon Wren, White-throated Wren, White-throated Rock Wren.— Weisskehliger Zaunkénig. (Germ.) 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Troglodytes mexicanus “Heerm. (1852).—Catherpes mexicanus Brd. (1858).— 
CATHERPES MEXICANUS CONSPERSUS Ripeway (1873). 
DESCRIPTION: Upper parts, brownish, everywhere dotted with small dusky and whitish spots. Tail, 
brownish or cinnamon-brown, crossed with usually five narrow, mostly zigzag-like bars. Chin, throat, 
and fore-breast, with the lower half of the side of the head and neck, white, shading behind into deep 
ferrugineous. Sexes alike. 
Length, 5.02 inches; wing, 2.32; tail, 2.14 inches. 
