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BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
General Habits. — The diminutive, dark-coated Western Winter 
Wren would often be quite overlooked in the dark coniferous forest, 
where he makes his home, were it not for his unmistakable la-tib, and 
his musical tinkling song. When once caught sight of, his abbreviated 
wisp of tail cocked over his back identifies him. 
Like the Cactus Wren, he has been found by Mr. Bowles making a 
number of dummy nests, in this case built entirely of moss, which give 
him a dry retreat in the humid regions where he mainly lives. 
In his densely shaded home in California, when his song made 
Mr. Rowley stop to investigate, a slight movement of a dark object 
supposed t b be a mouse proved a female wren. At this discovery, the 
wise observer must have “frozen,” for, as he tells us, “she was soon 
joined by the male, which began fluttering his wings and strutting 
about her, all the while keeping up a continual song” (1928, p. 161) — 
a pretty picture to carry away from the dark depths of the forest. 
Additional Literature.—Bowles, J. H., Cooper Ornith. Club (= Condor, 
vol. 1,), 72, 1899— Miller, O. T., Upon the Tree-Tops, 72-87, 1897. 
[CAROLINA WREN: Thryothorus ludovicianus ludovicianus (Latham) 
Description. Length: 5.2-6 inches, wing 2.3-2.5, tail 1.8-2.3, bill .6-.7, tarsus 
.7-8. Adults: Upperparts rusty bourn; wings and tail barred with dusky, wing quills 
and lateral tail feathers with whitish spots; conspicuous stripe over eye whitish, under¬ 
parts rusty whitish, clearest anteriorly; feet flesh-colored. 
Range. Breeds in Austral Zones in eastern United States and west to about 
101° in Texas and southeastern Montana (rare); resident nearly throughout its 
range; winters in the Rio Grande Valley at the mouth of the Pecos. 
State Records. A specimen of the Carolina Wren was sent to the Smithsonian 
Institution by Doctor Henry, and was later labeled as having been taken near Fort 
Thorn. There is undoubtedly some mistake about its origin. The species is 
[apparently] non-migratory and does not range nearer New Mexico than the southern 
part of the valley of the Rio Grande in Texas. Doctor Henry himself, in his latest list 
of the birds he had secured in New Mexico, which was published some time after his 
specimen had been received and identified at Washington, did not mention the 
species as ever seen by him in the State.—W. W. Cooke.] 
BAIRD BEWICK WREN: Thryomanes bewicki eremophilus Oberholser 
Description. Wing. 2.2 inches, tail 2.2. Adults: Upperparts pale grayish 
brown, tinged with rufous on rump; middle tail feathers brown, barred with black, rest 
of feathers mainly black, the three outer pairs with grayish white tips; line over eye, 
white; underparts whitish, purer on throat; under tail coverts heavily barred with 
black. } oung in juvenal plumage: Breast spotted with blackish. 
Range.— Sonoran Zones of Great Basin and Mexico from southeastern California 
and southern Wyoming south over tablelands to Zacatecas. 
State Rsconns.-The type specimen of the Baird Wren was obtained by Doctor 
Mearns in the Big Hatchet Mountains in 1S92. It breeds irregularly in the lower 
parts of the mountains of New Mexico, but seems to be absent from many parts of the 
> In the Catalogue this specimen is marked as having been returned to Doctor Henry in 1859. 
