THE WESTERN HOUSE WREN. 307 



it is quite as likely to be found in a liouse in the heart c:)f a citv. A few of tlie 

 nesting sites I have recorded are in upturned roots of fallen trees, deserted 

 woodpecker holes, in bird boxes in the city, in a fishing creel hanging on a 

 P'jrch, under a slab of bark that has scaled away a few inches from the body 

 of a tree, or an open nest built on a beam under a bridge. 



"A very complete study of this wren has con\'inced nie that it never builds 

 any nests except those used in raising the young. In other words, it is the only 

 wren in the Northwest that is positi\'elv guiltless of using 'decoys'. 



"In constructing the. nest these birds do not often take over ten days, in 

 which proceeding the female does all the work. One pair, however, that I 

 visited occasionally, were ovev a month in completing a small nest in the 

 natural cavity of a stump. No explanation of this seems possible, except that 

 the female was not ready to lay her eggs any sooner. 



"The nest is a rather slight affair, as a rule, the a\-erage nest containing 

 much less material than that of any other wren that I have seen. It is com- 

 posed of fine dried grass, skeleton leaves, green moss, wool, and verv rarely 

 has a basis of twigs, with a lining of hair, the cast skins of snakes, and many 

 feathers. 



"A set contains from four to six eggs, most commonly five. These are 

 pure white in ground color, marked with fine dots of reddish brown. The 

 markings are variable in distribution, some specimens being marked very spar- 

 ingly over all. while in others the markings are largely concentrated around the 

 larger end in the form of a more or less confluent ring. The eggs are rather 

 short ovate oval in shape, and average in measurements .68 ,x .54 inches. 



''Two broods are reared in a season : or perhaps it would be more correct 

 to say that fresh eggs may be found at any time between the middle of April 

 and the middle of June. 



"Altho rather timid in the vicinity of her nest, the female generally 

 remains on her eggs until disturbed by a jar or some loud noise. She then 

 disappears and neither bird appears nor makes any complaint in cjbjection 

 to the intruder." 



No. 119. 

 WESTERN HOUSE WREN. 



A. O. V. No. 721a. Troglodytes aedon parkmanii (Aud.). 

 Synonyms. — P.^rkm.^n's Wrex. P.vcific Hoi'sf, Wrex. 

 Description. — Adult: Above, grayish rufous-brown, duller and" lighter on 

 forepart^: brighter and more rufous on rump, which has concealed downy white 



