DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Troglodytes. Vieill, Nouv. Dict., XXXIV. p. 505. (1819.) Troglodytes mexicanus. (Swainson.) Thryothorus mexicanus. Swainson, Zool. Ill., 2d series, I. p. (none), pl. 11.
Form. Bill, long, slender and curved; wings, short, rounded, with the fourth and fifth quills longest; tail, rather long; legs and feet, moderately strong; claws, large.
Dimensions. Total length (of skin) about 5½ inches; wing, 2½; tail, 2 inches.
Colors. Throat and neck before, silky-white. Entire upper parts, reddish-brown, with minute circular or irregularly shaped spots of pure white, which are inserted in others of very dark-brown, nearly black; quills, dark-brown, spotted on their outer webs with ferruginous; tail, bright ferruginous, with about eight regular transverse bands of black. Entire under parts (except the throat and neck before, as above), bright ferruginous, rather darker than that of the tail, nearly every feather having a small irregularly shaped spot of white, joined to another of black; bill, light at the base, darker towards the tip. Sexes very nearly alike.
Hab. California, New Mexico, Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington city.
Obs. This very handsome Wren is not properly to be regarded as a true Troglodytes, but belongs to a small group or sub-genus, to which M. Cabanis has given the name Salpinctes. It does not particularly resemble any other species.