56 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



Latham. ^2 j therefore have the honor of recording the discov- 

 ery of the nest of the Golden-crowned "Wren," which I made 

 this summer, on the sixteenth day of July, in a forest of the 

 White Mountains, which consisted chiefly of evergreens and 

 white birches. Having several times observed the bird there, 

 I at last detected them in the act of convejnng food to their 

 young, and soon tracked them to their nest. This hung four 

 feet above the ground, from a spreading hemlock-bough, to the 

 twigs of which it was firmly fastened ; it was globular, with 

 an entrance in the upper part, and was composed of hanging 

 moss, ornamented with bits of dead leaves, and lined chiefly 

 with feathers. It contained six young birds, but much to my 

 regret no eggs. 



(c). The Golden-crowned "Wrens" come to Massachusetts 

 from their summer-homes in the latter part of October or in 

 November, and, though a majority of them move on to the 

 South, many pass the winter here, and continue their residence 

 in tliis State until April or even the second week of May. 

 During the winter they are for the most part gregarious, and 

 may often be seen in small flocks, moving about among trees ; 

 more often among those (such as birches) which spring up be- 

 side wood-paths than those growing elsewhere. But they also 

 visit cultivated lands and orchards, generally avoiding ever- 

 greens (so far as I have observed), probably, because thej'^ do 

 not readily find among them, in cold weather, the small insects 

 and their eggs, which infest the bark of other trees, and upon 

 which they chiefly depend for food.^^ j have ahvaj's found them 

 more abundant on the edges of lanes tlirough our woods than in 

 other places, and there one may watch them scrambling about 

 from tvrig to twig and from tree to tree, so busily engaged as 

 to almost ignore one's immediate presence. They are not quite 

 so restless as the Ruby-crowned " Wrens," but are equall}^ so- 



" " American Oi-nithology," Vol. I, p. 127. 



13 Tlie nuthatches, creepers, and titmice, all affect the pines in winter, and there- 

 fore I am at a loss to explain the aiiparcnt dislike of these birds to those trees in 

 that season. About the fact I do not tliink myself mistaken. They sliare the 

 Chickadee's partiality for white birches. 



