Mr. Ridgway noticed a wonderful variety in the notes of this Wren. Its peculiarly guttural turee was repeatedly heard, and its song in spring had a slight resemblance in modulation to that of the Carolina Wren, though altogether lacking the power and richness so characteristic of the superb song of that bird. Frequently its song was changed into a prolonged monotonous trill, similar to the tremulous spring-call of the Junco hyemalis.
This species is not so wary as the Catherpes mexicanus. Upon suddenly starting up an individual of this kind, he would fly to the nearest boulder, turn with his breast towards the party, swing oddly from side to side, all the while ludicrously bowing and scolding the intruder with his peculiar sharp expressions of displeasure.
Dr. Cooper, in his paper on the Fauna of the Territory of Montana, states that he observed this bird occasionally through the main Rocky Mountain chain to near the crossing of the Bitterroot, but it was less common than among the cliffs and rocks of the barren plain along their eastern slope. Though he did not find it in the western part of Washington Territory, he has no doubt that it frequents parts of the rocky cañons of the Columbia Plain. A nest with nine eggs was found in a log-cabin below Fort Benton.
Genus CATHERPES, Baird.
Catherpes, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 357. (Type, Thryothorus mexicanus, Sw.)
Gen. Char. Bill longer than the head, slender; all the outlines nearly straight to the tip, then gently decurved, gonys least so; nostrils linear; tarsus short, about equal to the middle toe, which reaches to the middle of the middle claw. Outer toe considerably longer than the inner, reaching beyond the base of the middle claw. Wings a little longer than the tail; the exposed portion of the first primary about half that of the fourth and
fifth. Tail-feathers very broad and perfectly plane; tail nearly even; the two lateral graduated; the outer about eleven twelfths of the middle.
Catherpes mexicanus.
3969, ♂
This genus agrees with Salpinctes in the broad, plane tail-feathers, but the bill is much longer, the nostrils linear, not oval, the feet much stouter, the outer toe rather longer; the tarsus shorter, being equal to the middle toe, not longer; the hind toe much longer than the outer lateral, instead of equal to it. The wings are but little longer than the tail, and shorter than in Salpinctes.