TROOLODYTID.K — TIIK WRENS. I57 



he was examining them. Tlie nest was seven inclies in length and four and a 

 halt' in lireadth. Its walls were i^jiiiposed of mo.sses and lichen.s, and were 

 nearly two inches in thickness. Tlie cavity was very warmly lined with the 

 fur of the American hare and a lew soft feathers. Another nest found on 

 the Moliawk, in New York, was similar, but smaller, and Ijuilt against tlie 

 side of a rock near its bottom. 



Mr. William F. Hall met with the nest and eggs of this bird at Camp 

 Sebois in the central eastern portion of Maine. It was built in an unoccupied 

 log-hnt, among the fir-leaves and mosses in a crevice between tlie logs. It 

 was large and bulky, composed externally of mosses and lined witli tlie fur 

 of hedge-hogs, ami the feathers of the spruce partridge and other birds. It 

 was in the shape of a pouch, and tlie entrance was neatly framed with fine 

 pine sticks. The eggs were six in number, and somewhat resembled tliose of 

 the Parvs atrkapillus. The fcmah' was seen and fully identified. 



In this nest, which measured Hve and three quarters inches by five in 

 breadth, the size, solidity, and strength, in view of the diminutive proportions 

 of its tiny architect, are quite remarkable. The walls were two inches in 

 thickness and very strongly impacted and interwoven. The cavity was an 

 inch and a quarter wide and four inches deep. Its hemlock framework had 

 been made of green materials, and their strong and agreeable odor pervaded 

 the structure. The eggs measured .65 by .48 of an inch, and were spotted 

 with a bright reddish-brown and a few pale markings of purplish-slate, on a 

 pure white ground. Comjiared with the eggs of the European "Wren their 

 eggs are larger, less oval in shape, and the spots much more marked in 

 their cliaracter and distinctness. 



Troglodytes parvulus, \ai. alascensis, Bairu. 



ALASKA WREN. 



Troglodytes alascensis, Baikd, Tian.s. Chicago Acad. Sc. I, ii, 315, pi. xxx, fig. 3, 1SC9. — 

 D.\LL & Bannister (Alaska). — FiiiE.^cii, Ornith. K. W. Amerikas, 1S72, 30. 



Sp. Char. ^ ad., 61,329, Aniaknak Wand. Unalaschka, Oct. 21, 1871 ; W. K. Dall. 

 Above umber-brown, more rufescent on the \ving.«, rump, and tail; secondaries and tail- 

 feathers .showing indistinct transverse dusky bars ; primaries about equally barred with 

 blackish and dilute umber or browuisli-white; middle-coverts tipped with a small white 

 dot, preceded by a black one. Lowci- part, including a rather distinct superciliary stripe, 

 pale ochraceous-umber ; sides, flanks, abdomen, and crissum distinctly barred with dusky 

 and whitish on a rusty ground ; crissum with sagittate spots of white. Wing, 2.20 ; tail, 

 l.GO ; culmen, .65; tarsu.s, .75. 



Hab. Aleutian and Pribylow Islands, Alaska. 



The specimen abo\-e described represents aliout the average of a large 

 series obtained on Amaknak Island by Mr. Dall. They vary somewhat 

 among themselves as regards dimensions, Init all are very much larger tliau 



