_Picolaptes brunneicapillus_, LAFRESNAYE, Mag. de Zool. 1835, 61,
pl. xlvii.—LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, 1851, 114.—CASSIN, Birds
Cal. Tex. 1854, 156, pl. xxv.—HEERMANN, J. A. N. Sc. II, 1853,
263. _C. brunneicapillus_, GRAY, Genera, I, 1847, 159.—BP. Consp.
1850, 223.—SCL. P. A. N. S. 156, 264.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
355; Pr. Phil. Acad. 1859, 3, etc.; Rev. 99.—HEERMANN, P. R. R.
X, 1859.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 482 (Texas).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1,
1870, 61.
SP. CHAR. Bill as long as the head. Above brown; darkest on the head,
which is unspotted. Feathers on the back streaked centrally with
white. Beneath whitish, tinged with rusty on the belly; the feathers
of the throat and upper parts, and under tail-coverts, with large
rounded black spots; those of the remaining under parts with smaller,
more linear ones. Chin and line over the eye white. Tail-feathers
black beneath, barred subterminally (the outer one throughout) with
white. Iris, reddish-yellow. Length, 8 inches; wing, 3.40; tail, 3.55.
HAB. Adjacent borders of the United States and Mexico, from the mouth
of the Rio Grande to the Valley of the Colorado, and to the Pacific
coast of Southern California. Replaced at Cape St. Lucas by _C.
affinis_.
This species is found abundantly along the line of the Rio Grande and
Gila, extending northward some distance, and everywhere conspicuous by
its wren-like habits and enormous nest.
[Illustration: _Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus._]
HABITS. The Brown-headed Creeper is a comparatively recent addition to
the fauna of the United States, but appears to be common along the
southwestern borders of the United States, from the valley of the Rio
Grande to San Diego, in California. In Lower California it is replaced
by the _C. affinis_.
It was first added to our avifauna by Mr. Lawrence in 1851, on the
strength of a specimen obtained in Texas by Captain McCown.
Dr. Heermann, in his paper on the Birds of California, speaks of
finding it in the arid country back of Guymas, on the Gulf of
California. This country, presenting only broken surfaces and a
confused mass of volcanic rocks, covered by a scanty vegetation of
thorny bushes and cacti, among other interesting birds, was found to
contain this species in abundance. He describes it as a lively,
sprightly species, uttering, at intervals, clear, loud, ringing notes.
Its nest, composed of grasses and lined with feathers, was in the
shape of a long purse, enormous for the size of the bird, and laid
flat between the forks or on the branches of a cactus. The entrance
was a covered passage, varying from six to ten inches in length. The
eggs, six in number, he described as being of a delicate salmon-color,
very pale, and often so thickly speckled with ash and darker
salmon-colored spots as to give quite a rich cast to the whole surface
of the egg.
Lieutenant Couch met with these birds near Monterey. He states that
they have a rich, powerful song. Of the nest he gives substantially
the same description as that furnished by Dr. Heermann.
The eggs are of an oblong-oval shape, slightly more pointed at one
end, and are so equally and generally covered, over a white ground,
with fine salmon-colored spots, as to present a uniform and almost
homogeneous appearance. They vary in length from an inch to 1.02
inches, and have an average breadth of .68 of an inch.
Campylorhynchus affinis, XANTUS.