be used for several years in succession. In such a case it is usually thoroughly 

 cleaned out, and the old chips in the bottom replaced by new ones. Beach, 

 ash, poplar, birch, oak, sycamore, haw and apple trees are mostly used for 

 nesting sites. The number of eggs laid to a set varies from three to five, usually 

 four. They are pure white and unspotted. 



The duties of incubation are divided between the sexes and last about 

 two weeks. The young when first hatched are repulsive looking creatures, blind 

 and naked, with enormously large heads and ugly protuberances at the base of 

 the bill, resembling a reptile more than a bird. They are fed by the parents 

 by regurgitation of their food, which is the usual way in which the young of 

 most woodpeckers are fed when first hatched. The young remain in the nest 

 about three weeks. Even after leaving the nest they are assiduously cared 

 for by both parents for several weeks until able to provide for themselves. 



The Winter Wren {Nannus hiemalis) 



By W. Leon Dawson 



Length : 4 inches. 



Range : Eastern North America. 



This is the shortest and most stoutly built of all wrens. Note how pert 

 his short, stubby tail makes him look in the color plate. 



Its songs is a rippling flow of melody, not as loud but more musical than 

 that of the house wren. 



When the woods are bare and the leaves are huddled into corners to 

 escape the teasing of a November wind, a little brown shadow flashes up 

 for an instant at the edge of a brush heap ; chitters apprehensively once or 

 twice, and is gone again, just as you have made up your mind that the winter 

 wren has come. A cautious foot resting on the heap and stirring it gently will 

 bring him out again to estimate the danger. How deliciously absurd it is ! this 

 tiny creature with its sparkling eyes and dumpy form. Its tail, too, is turned 

 up until it leans the other way, and it gives one the impression that the bird 

 will tumble, forward and nothing to prevent it. 



When driven from one cover the winter wren instantly seeks another, 

 and spends little time a-wing, except as it flits from branch to branch. It is 

 to be found principally along river bottoms and in ravines under overhanging 

 banks, and about upturned roots of trees. Some occasionally venture into the 

 barns and outbuildings of country places, or may spend the winter about the 

 woodpile. 



The only note heard commonly is the chitit or chirr of alarm, but the full 

 song is sometimes heard in May; and there is just a suspicion that it oc- 

 casionally breeds. Its song is a surprising effort for a bird, so tiny and 

 obscure — a cataract of tinkling, splashing, gurgling sounds, and wanton trills, 

 lasting for seven or eight seconds. 



372 



