WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 277 



Young : Similar to adults, but streaks on back less distinct, spots on 



under parts smaller, and colors more suffused. 

 Geographical Distribution : Southwestern border of United States from 



Southern Texas to coast of Southern California, south into Mexico, 



north to Utah. 

 California Breeding Range : Lower Sonoran zone in Southern California, 



on both sides of the Sierra Nevada, 

 Breeding Season : April 15 to August 1. 

 Nest: Placed in cactus or thorny bushes; flask-shaped, with an entrance 



at one end ; made of little twigs and grasses ; lined with feathers. 

 Eggs : i to 7 ; white or creamy white, thickly covered with reddish 



brown spots. Size 0.97 X 0.65. 



Unless you have heard the Cactus Wren sing, you 

 will wonder at the science that classes him with the 

 wrens. But when you listen to the rich, ringing, wren- 

 like song, and come upon the singer sitting on a thorny 

 twig in the exact attitude of the thrashers, with lifted 

 bill and tail curved downward, you are satisfied to leave 

 his name among the wren family. He sings constantly 

 as well as sweetly. His clear notes are the first to 

 waken the weary camper in the morning, and oftentimes 

 they alone break the death-like hush of evening. The 

 Leconte thrasher runs him a close face in this, but, I 

 believe, is always a little short of winning. A spirit 

 brave enough to sing in all the dreary waste and scorch- 

 ing heat wins your honest admiration, and you try to 

 imagine what the parched and silent desert would be 

 without these two birds. 



In places it seems as if every other cactus contained a 

 nest of this species, so common is it. A long, purse- 

 shaped affair, it is laid flat in the fork of a cactus and 

 having a doorway at the small end whereby the busy 

 brown mother may enter. Another wren-like trait of this 



