WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 281 



and send forth his bell-like peal as if he were saying 

 ' Right here, right here, here is our nest,' but when you 

 go to the spot he flits off to another rock and sounds the 

 same challenge." If perchance you find the treasure, the 

 anxiety of the tiny brown householder manifests itself 

 in ludicrous tail-waggings and excited bobbings, together 

 with energetic scolding protests. The half-fledged nest- 

 lings are soft brown balls of feathers with only a promise 

 of the perky little tail of the adults. Apparently they 

 have all the nervous activity of their race, for even 

 in the nest they wriggle and fuss. 



The Rock Wren's song, which Mrs. Bailey calls the 

 " most unbird-like of machine-made tinklings," is peculiar 

 to himself, and once heard will be recognized instantly 

 ever afterwards. 



717 a. CANON WREN. — Catherpes mexicanus conspersus. 

 Family : The Wrens, Thrashers, etc. 



Length: 5.50-5.75. 



Adults: Plumage conspicuously brown, except for white throat and 

 breast ; upper parts varying from dull brown to cinnamon-grayish 

 and speckled with white and blackish ; the wings cinnamon-rusty 

 and barred with dusky tail light reddish brown with narrow black 

 bars ; belly dull reddish brown. 



Young: Similar to adults, but without white spots on upper and poste- 

 rior under parts, which are instead mottled more or less with dusky. 



Geographical Distribution : Southwestern United States, north to Wyo- 

 ming, east to Texas and Rocky Mountains, south to Lower California 

 and Mexico. 



California Breeding Range: Desert ranges southeast of the Sierra 



Nevada. 

 Breeding Season : April, May, and June. 

 Nest : Generally placed in some deserted tunnel or cave, or in holes in 



