The herald., 1895-01-13
A LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS,
Joseph Grinnell's Paper On the
Wren Family.
Is Only Sub Division of the Family
Tr0glOdytid@.
An Interesting Description of the Many
Varieties-Soms Stories
About Wrens.

On last Tuesday evening Joseph Grin.
nell, q young scientist of Pasadena, read
a very valuable original paper, entitled
The Wren Family, before the science
association in this city. The article
entire is here given:
The term wren family ia hardly cor
rect, technically, az according to the
classification recognized by the Ameri-
can Ornithologists union, the wrens
form only a eub-family. The family
troglody tid@ includes the thrashers and
mocking- birds besides the wrsns. The
wrens are separated from these other
birds OF similar structure by their small
size, less deeply-cleft toes, exposed nos.
trils, and by other leas important chars
acterstics.
The wrens occur in nearly all parts OF
the world, but more especially in Amer
lea. Nearly 100 species are known,
most OF which OF course are found in
natives OF the United States, I5 OF which
occur only in the westsrn states. OF
these ID. we have here the seven nam ed
on the board.
To all people who have lived in the
remember how it would build in any
nook about the house or barn, aud in
tin cans and boxes nailed up for the pur.
pose, often driving out blnebirdy aud
swallows in crd9r 10 taxa possession. We
| do not have the home wren hero, bu;
| we have one very similar, the psrkm M
wren. The latter, however, ia not nearly
| so we'll known in this region. Nouo OF
our wrens have become accugtomed to
the society OF man as they have in the
| east. California has bsen ssttlsd only
Tor short time, and there s still plenty
oil Wild, wooded land for this shy birds,
80 that our wrens are seldo n seen about
towns or even in the neigh borhood OF
isolated houses in the country.
| OBSERVATION NEEDED.
There is no way | ioa OF to distin-
guish wren from any other kind of q
| bird, a. HI IL sean ac,ye sni Way in
his native haunts, oxceot a por9oa c)A-
stan,ly watcher gnd at disa, An / b. 90
doing gradually acquire the in9lrc, o.;
recognizing IL bird a5 aigls. la o.3er
words. | mean there Is NJ dslcrpi!oa Ut
color. shape or Een3rll h,lrllE thai
would apply ID any wren Gn,l enA .ls ono
who knows litt!e aboal biristl 'isntiIy
q bird in its home as mem Der of the
| wren family.
\ il wrens doi.'t have all jrt, e,nak Il .
thle, nor d. hay gii m)vs with sb'npt.
| j9rkv motions. rGefs are. h1weter, Il
lew minor characten icl VII en- appts
| to wrena, though not necsssari!J to
'hese birds Il, ne. rheY All A.-es IN
hav:n2 iEconsplcuons aoM2fe c,Jfa,
mostly shads1 OF by iwh. Also, tnsy ar,
not arboreal b'rd4-.hat H., thsJ hao T.
| ually remain cloee to The SronnG among
rocks or in low hsfDa&e. iasg never
build open. p!atinsm-iis, neitA in ths
foliage OF tfees OF on he :. lvni, "a altn
sparrows. thrushas an mat y ri'. m.
choose eithsr cavttiNt o: treth ioi IA
rocks. or thef bail clrsr9l pva -
shaped nests In plan - u.nAliv nsAr ths
groand. In fsoi,nS tte.r youn-, t:a
parent does not parity Digest me 10 III
before Offering it to than. rs wlth ag1,I
many sonI birds. bat !sad their OF prins
with freshly killed insects. Wreni are
insectiyarous. a t9ey eubiet u,irelg
on insecte. They are thus vsry valuable
to the farmer or alricUttuist IN destroy
| ing noxloue insects and chair laryp Ia
fact, may add that none OF the birds
here are Injurious, not even hawks.
owls, butcher birds or black birds Tns
wrens are nearly MI sweet singers, thus
being like their nesr relatives, tho
mocking- birds and thrsahers.
Our aeven representatives OF the wren
sub-family are not all found in the same
locality or at the same time. Indeed, it
is seldom tina. two species are seen in
the same neigh borhood The dry, cactua
covered erroro1 torn the home oi the
cactus wren. The Vigor's wren haunts
the low brush along the Gallons and
foothills. The tule wren inhabits the
marshes. The rock wren is found along
dry washes and stony banks out on the
mesas. The canon wren is in the deep
craggy gorgea among the high noun
tsins. The Parkman's wren prefers the
wooded localities in the valleys. And
the western winter wren ia found only
high in the mountains. So that to fad
all our wrens one must make nearly as
many hunting trips as there ara kinds.
| will not attempt to describe the plum-
age OF each species OF wren as | have on
tee table here, specimens OF all men
ton. also the eggs of few. The fol.
lowing will suffice as short account OF
our Hevon wrens.
THE CACTUS WREN.
The cactus wren is characteristic in.
habitant OF the broad dry arroyos, such
as are covered with cage brush and
yucca plants together with clumps of
cactus. Wherever there is a level rocky
expanse in Southern California dotted
here and there with cactus. one may be
sure of finding the cactus wren at home.
This bird ia the largest North American
wren, and in bearing and disposition, as
observed from q distance, would hardly
seem to bear any resemblance to the
noisy, lively houee wren. The cactus
wren. ia. however, quite similar in
structure, and the general habits are not
diverse, though quite modified. This
wren is exceedingly shy, and seldom
flies, but swiftly trots along the road
from bush to bush. The note is peau-
liar, though not very noticeable. 1t is
composed of low, insect.like chirp,
which one would hardly think as be-
longing to any bird. The colors of this
bird, too, are mostly neutralizing shades
of gray. brown and white, resembling
the hue of the region it inhabits. These
characteristics seem to combine to make
the cactus wren inconspicuous and un-
noticeable.
The birds begin notification carly in
April, and l once found a nest contain.
ing five eggs on March 18th. From this
date till late in June eggs may be found,
though on July 18th found young. APP
parently just Matched. go that probably
two or three broods are raieed in sea-
eon Although the fOur montha from