Page:Condor9(1).djvu/18

 Jan., x9o 7 EXPERIENCES WITH THE DOTTED CANYON WREN x7 cupboard. Even tho it was open on one side it was pretty safe from the rats, sus- pended as it was from the ceiling.. As soon as I discovered the nest I told the rest of the party not to disturb the box or its occupants so as to give me a chance to identify the owners, as well as to study their actions. After a few moment's waiting I heard the shrill whistle or song of the dotted canyon wren ( Calherpes mexicanus puclttlaltts) near the cabin. Almost immediately afterward the female wren appeared, carrying an insect in her beak with which to feed the four small hungry nestlings in the nest in the box. At first she seemed frightened at me, approaching the box only with the utmost caution, but after we had been in camp a few days she became accustomed to our presence and noise, and would enter the box even tho we were quite near. Both the male and female assisted in feeding the young. At night the female brooded the nest. I discovered this by taking a light and looking at her thru a crack in the box. She sdemed frightened at the light but only blinked and crouched lower in the nest, as if to better protect her small babies. I would have the nest in my possession now but for a misfortune that over- took it. After placing a small can lined with cotton in place of the nest, and after putting the youngsters in their new home, I laid the nest out intending to pack it at once. But for the time I forgot that mountain cabins are infested with rats. This fact was sharply impressed upon me when in the morning I went to get the nest; for there only remained the tattered remnants of a once beautiful struc- ture. The rats in this camp, as I found out later, have been credited, and I do not believe falsely, with mysteriously carrying off everything that they can get at, even sides of bacon, boxes of crackers, and sacks of potatoes! ' But to return to the nest: As I remember it, the top part resembled very much a wood pewee's in form and color, tho in size it was a little larger and deeper. The lower part was a great mass of coarse sticks, such as are always found in the nests of the wren family. The upper part was composed of fine grass, weeds, weed bark, and weed stems, covered over with an abundance of soft light-colored mosses and lichens. The lining was of soft feathers, a little hair, and a few soft xveed fibers and the ever present piece of dried snake skin, which is nearly always found in the nests of the wren family. The inside diameter was about two and one-half inches, the inside depth about two inches. The outside diameter was about four inches and the outside depth, taking into consideration the mass of sticks, about five inches. All the upper part was very compactly and firmly xvoven, showing a high class of bird architecture. I am happy to say that the old birds, after their first scare, did not seem to be concerned in the least about having their family transfered from a beautiful neat home to a rude tin can, and the young seemed to grow just as fast. All they seemed to need was plenty of food and a little warmth at night: No 'style for them. Every morning before we got up we could hear the shrill clear whistle-like songs of our little friends as they sat on the roof of the cabin, or darted between and about the logs in search of their food. On the morning of our departure I took a last look at the youngsters. They were greedy now and showed much life. How I wished that I could stay with them and see that they left the nest safely. Even now, xvhenever I am in the mountains it is with pleasure and joy that, as I come around some point or cliff, I hear again the clear melodious song of one of these energetic little wrens. It always takes me back to the old cabin in Coldwater and its happy family of canyon wrens. Claremont, California.