152 X(JRTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



larger and darker form of the present species, hardly distinct enough to he 

 treated even as a race. IMr. Auduljon met with an indi\idual near Eastport 

 in 1832. The young were follo\\-ing their parents through the tangled re- 

 cesses of a dark forest, in search of food. Others were obtained in the same 

 part of Maine, near Dennisville, wliere jNlr. Lincoln informed Mr. Aiiduhon 

 that this bird was the common Wren of the neighborhood, and that they bred 

 in liollow logs in the woods, but seldom approached farm-houses. 



In the winter following, at C'liai'leston, S. C, Mr. Audubon again met indi- 

 viduals of tliis suji^josed species, showing the same habits as in ]\Iaine, re- 

 maining in thick hedges, along ditches in the woods, not far from ])lantations. 

 The notes are described as differing considerably from those of the House 

 Wren. It has not been seen by Mr. Boardman, tliough residing in the 

 region where it is said to be the common Wren. Professor Verrill mentions 

 it as a rare bird in Western Maine. 



Mr. Charles S. Paine, of Randolph, Yt., is the only naturalist who has 

 met with what he supposes were its nest and eggs. The following is his 

 account, couununicated by letter. 



" The Wood Wren comes among us in the spring about the 10th or 15th 

 of April, and sings habitually as it skips among the brush and logs and 

 under the roots and stumps of trees. In one instance I have known it to 

 make its appearance in midwinter, and to l>e about the house and barn some 

 time. It is only occasionally tliat tliey s])cnd the siimmer liere (Central 

 Vermont). The nest from which I obtained tlie egg ynu now have, I found 

 about tlie first of July, just as the young weie about to tly. Tliere were five 

 young birds and one egg. The nest was built on the lianging bark of a de- 

 caying beech-log, close under the log. A great quantity of moss and rotten 

 wood had been collected and filled in around the nest, and a little r(jund hole 

 lelt for the entrance. The nest was lined with a soft, downy suljstance. I 

 have no doubt that they sometimes commence to breed as early as tlie middle 

 of May, as I have seen their young out in early June." 



Mr. Paine discredits the statement that they build their nests in holes in 

 the ground. The egg referred to by Mr. Paine is oval in shape, slightly more 

 pointed at one end, measuring .75 of an inch in length by .53 in breadth. 

 The ground is a dead ehalky-wliite, over which are .sprinkled a few very fine 

 dots of a light yellowish-brown, slightly more numerous at the larger end. 

 This egg, while it bears some resemblance to that of the Winter Wren, is 

 totally unlike that of the House Wren. 



