WRENS: CACTUS WREN 
541 
brown, feathers of back with while mesial streaks; wings barred, tail with middle 
feathers brown, barred with black, the rest blackish , more or less barred with white; 
line over eye white; underparts white anteriorly, shading into cinnamon-brown poste¬ 
riorly, spotted with black. Young: Back spotted rather than streaked with white 
and spots on throat and chest much smaller and less intensely black. 
From Biological Survey 
Fig. 96. Domed Nest of Cactus Wren 
Characteristically placed in protective cactus; here in cane cactus (Opuntia 
arborescens) 
Range— Lower Sonoran desert regions from southern parts of California, 
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas south to Lower California and other 
northern states of Mexico. 
State Records.— Throughout the lowest parts of southern New Mexico, the 
Cactus Wren is a common resident east to Carlsbad, and the Guadalupe Mountains 
below 5,500 feet (Bailey). It ranges north to Lower Penasco, Tularosa, and Engle 
(Ligon); San Marcial (Bailey); Silver City (Hunn); Redrock (Goldman)- Carlisle 
(Barrell); and Cactus Flat (Bailey); [Monticello, San Marcial, Alamagordo, and 
Artesia (Ligon, 1916-1918).] It was found as high as 6,000 feet on the west and 
north slopes of Salinas Peak, December 9-20, 1902 (Gaut); but may not have nested 
UP to that altitude, though it nests regularly to 5,600 feet at the base of the mountain. 
It nests to 6,000 feet at Silver City (Marsh); 5,500 feet at Dog Spring, Grant County 
(Mearns); and 6,200 feet in the Organ Mountains (Merrill). The nesting season is a 
lengthy one, for eggs were found on April 23, 1885, at Silver City (Marsh); on 
August 26, 1912, in the Jornada, near Cutter, at 5,000 feet and fresh eggs on August 
27, 1912, at about 5,600 feet near Engle (Ligon). 
