154 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD.S. 



Dr. Cooper has since observed them iii Calitnruia, and in tlie winter, in 

 the Colorado Valley, where they roosted at night nnder the eaves of the gar- 

 rison buildings. They make their appearance at San Francisco as early 

 as March 16, and ue.st at San Diego in April._ He has found tlieir nests 

 in hollow trees at various heights, i'runi five to forty feet, all conijiosed of a 

 floor and barricade of long dry twigs, grass, and bark, loosely placed, but so 

 interwoven as to leave only just space for the birds to S(|ueeze in over them. 

 Tliey are warmly lint'd witli a large ij^uantity of feathers. Their eggs he 

 gives as from five to nine in number. 



The late ilr. Hepburn has furnished more full and exact infurniatiou in 

 regard to this species. We give it in his own words. 



"The T. imrkmanni is the common wicii cif Vancouver Island, far more 

 so than of California, where I have found the IJewick's Wren (?'. hcwickii) 

 much nuu'e numerous. Parkman's Wren builds its nest in liollow trees in 

 Vancouver Island, about the middle of May, forming it of sujall sticks laid 

 at the bottom of the liole, neatly and comfortably lining it on the inside with 

 feathers that arch over the eggs. It will also readily avail itself of any 

 similar and equally convenient cavity. I liave knuwii these birds to build 

 under the roof of a frame house, entering by a bole between the tojinmst 

 board and the shingles ; al.so in a hole in a gate-post, through which gate 

 people were continually jiassing ; and also over a doorway, getting in by a 

 loose board, in a jdace where the nest could be reached by the hand. In 

 1852 I put a cigar-box, with a liole c\it in one end, between the forks of a 

 tree in a garden at Victoria. A pair of Wrens speedily took possession of 

 it and formed their nest therein, laying seven eggs, the first on the 18th of 

 May. The eggs of tliis Wren are white, thickly freckled with pink spots, 

 so much so in some specimens as to give a general pink appearance to the 

 egg itself, but forming a zone of a darker hue near the larger end. They 

 are .81 of an inch in length by .50 in width." 



Their eggs resemble those of the T. mlon so as to be bardly distinguish- 

 able, yet on comparing several sets of each there seem to be these constant 

 differences. The sjiots of the western sjiecies are finer, less marked, more 

 numerous, and of a piid<er shade of reddish-brown. The eggs, too, range a 

 little smaller in size, though exhiliiting great variations. In one nest the 

 average measurement of its seven eggs is .60 by .50. that of another set of 

 the same number .70 by .50 of an inch. 



In all respects, habits, manners, and notes, Parkman's Wren is a ])erfecl 

 counter])art of the eastern House Wrcui. In the country east of the Sicn-ra 

 Nevada it almost wholly rej)laces the western Bewick's Wren {Thri/olhornf! 

 hcvmkii, var. spilurus), and inhabits any wooded localities, as little preference 

 being given to the cottonwoods of the river valleys as to the aspen groves 

 high up in the mountains. 



