166 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



mer. It is not quite easy for one living in New 

 England to see why they are called Winter 

 Wrens, as that is the season when they are not 

 in evidence. But in the Middle States they 

 spend the season of cold, so perhaps from that 

 viewpoint they are correctly named. 



This Wren has a pretty suit of brown, finely 

 barred with black on the wings and tail, with 

 concealed light spots. The under parts are light 

 washed with brownish, the sides and breast 

 somewhat barred with black. The tail is erect, 

 giving the bird the appearance of being much 

 shorter than he really is, and his entire length 

 from tip of bill to end of tail feathers is but a 

 trifle more than four inches. 



The Winter Wren is a very pert and active 

 bird, darting like a huge bee in and out the 

 brush heaps, stopping to look at you, with a 

 queer little bobbing motion, as though his legs 

 were coiled steel wire. If you chance upon his 

 large family when they are first out of the nest, 

 your amusement will be great. Last year we 

 saw them rowed along a mossy log, tended by 

 the parents, who were evidently giving them 

 their first lesson in woodcraft. They watched 

 us for some time, bobbing all the while on their 

 tiny legs, then slipped away into the moss and 

 leaves, evidently thinking us suspicious char- 

 acters to be avoided. 



The nest is built of small twigs and moss, 

 lined with feathers, usually placed in an old 

 stump, in the moss at the foot of a tree, or per- 

 haps in a brush heap. The four to ten eggs, 

 scarcely larger than peas, are creamy white 

 speckled with reddish brown. 



