CACTUS WREN. 
713. Heleodytes brunneicapillus. 81/> inches. 
Range. —Southern part of California, to Texas, and north 
to Nevada and Utah. They are the largest of the Wrens, 
and look the least like that family of any of them. They are 
a common bird in the desert lands, where the cactus abounds, 
but lacks the sweet song of some of the smaller members 
of the family. Their nests are bulky, ball-shaped struc¬ 
tures, made up of sticks, moss, grass, and lined with feathers. 
There is an opening on the side for an entrance, and it is 
usually placed in a thorn bush or cactus. Their four to seven 
eggs are creamy white, dotted thickly with chestnut (.95x.65). 
ROCK WREN. 
715. Salpinctes obsoletus. 6 inches. 
Range. —Western coasts from British America to Mexico. 
These bird are equally at home on the mountain sides or in the 
deep canyons, building their nests in the crevices of rocks 
or stumps, where they lay from five to eight white eggs, with 
fine spots of brown about the larger end (.72 x.50). 
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