550 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
kra-wee-kra-wee that might become pleasing by long association with 
its cheery little self. 
It was abundant in the canyons near Santa Rosa in 1903, where we 
found eight nests, two on the ground under stones and the rest in 
crevices or holes in rocks. The birds have the curious habit of using 
bits of stone at the entrance of the nest, both as a wide pavement 
leading to it and as a border to the nest itself. In two nests that we 
found there were over eighty pieces of stone, varying from one-half 
to one-and-a-half inches in length. One contained two hundred and 
sixty stones and a quart of sticks and lining material. In a nest we 
discovered in the wall of the ruined church of Pecos Pueblo, fragments 
of Indian pottery were used instead of stones (1904a, pp. 68-70). What¬ 
ever the purpose of the stones and pottery, they must help in marking 
the particular crevice of the nesting site in a sandstone wall full of 
innumerable crevices. 
A nest found by Mr. Anthony was several feet below the surface 
of the ground in a mine actually being worked, night and day. How 
the nest and eggs escaped being destroyed by the blasts, which were 
fired within a few yards of them several times each day, he says, was 
a puzzle to him (1892, p. 368). 
The Wrens met with at our camps had a delightful air of frank 
fearlessness, allowing themselves to be photographed at short range— 
one pair at four feet—coming about camp and perching on the wagon 
top looking for insects for their young. One came tripping down the 
face of a rock mass with its bill bristling with moth wings, and parents 
are said to feed their nestlings grasshoppers, and green caterpillars. 
A pail with three young, found by Mr. Gaut along a rocky arrovo 
west of Tres Piedras, made a pretty picture, the little ones sitting 
side by side on a dead log, while their parents were busily engaged 
looking for food about the numerous logs and rocks surrounding them. 
Near Santa Fe the friendly Wren is said to frequent the neighborhood 
of gardens. 
Additional Literature—Bailey, F. M., Condor, VI, 68-70, 1904. 
THRASHERS, MOCKINGBIRDS, etc.: Family Mimidae 
The Mimidae are a strictly American family, most of which are 
restricted to the Tropics. The New Mexico representatives of the 
family are large, mainly brown or gray birds, from eight to twelve and 
a half inches long. Their bill, with well developed rictal bristles, 
is sometimes curved or notched near tip. Their wings are short and 
rounded, their tails large and rounded, and their feet stout in adapta¬ 
tion to partly terrestrial life. In general habits they resemble the 
Wrens, living in shrubbery near the ground, the plain colors of the 
