WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 279 



the nest, and then the crops of the young plainly indicated 

 a stronger diet. By regurgitation in a case like this, I 

 mean that the adults masticated the food and carried it 

 in their own gular pouch, or crop, to the young. During 

 the last few days that the young Wrens spent in the nest 

 the doorway was full of little brown heads most of the 

 time, and the mother no longer went inside to feed them. 

 She still slept in the nest with them, however, and each 

 night there was a struggle for supremacy between the 

 nestlings who wished to look out and the mother who 

 tried to get in. Finally, one morning when she emerged, 

 it seemed as if the cork had popped from a bottle allow- 

 ing the contents to escape, for two of the youngsters 

 darted out close behind her, and two more peeped from 

 the doorway. Except for smaller, plumper form and 

 softer coloring, they were exact counterparts of the 

 adults, and they possessed the nervous activity of their 

 family. 



715. ROCK WREN. — Salpinctes obsoletus. 

 FAMtLY : The Wrens, Thrashers, etc. 



Length: 5.12-6.35. 



Adults: Upper parts grayish brown, more or less speckled with dusky 

 and white dots ; rump light brown ; tail tipped with buffy brown and 

 with subterminal band of black ; middle dusky ; under parts dull 

 whitish ; flank tinged with pale cinnamon; chest usually finely 

 speckled ; under tail-coverts barred with blackish. 



Young: Upper parts plain rusty-gray ; under parts whitish on throat and 

 breast, brownish on flanks and under tail-coverts. 



Geographical Distribution : Arid regions of Western United States, east 

 to the Great Plains, south to Mexico, north to British Columbia. 



California Breeding Range : Locally throughout the State, chiefly east 

 of the humid coast belt. Eecorded from the Farallones. 



