172 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



wood forests, from sea-level nearly to the tops of the northern moun- 

 tains." 



Courtship. — I do not know whether anyone has ever seen the court- 

 ship display of the eastern winter wren, but I have never seen it 

 reported. Therefore, the following account of the display of the 

 western winter wren, by Theed Pearse (1933) is of special interest: 



The bird was in a bush above a tangle in which, possibly, there was a 

 female, on a branch just clear of the tangle. First, the bird fluttered or 

 quivered its wings, keeping them close to the body slightly drooped. Its 

 general attitude was rather squatting, the converse of the ordinary alert up- 

 standing posture. When quivering it looked down towards the ground (the 

 tangle where there may have been a female) and worked its tail alternately 

 from side to side. At times it would utter a note, a much modified and softened 

 regular alarm note. 



The climax came when the bird dropped its wings and fanned with them, 

 bringing them forward and then backwards. The feathers carried coucavely 

 from the front, with the feathers on the back also raised between the wings. 

 The bird "fanned" about ten times; the action was quick but easily followed. 

 After this the bird dropped into the bush and moved away. Shortly after- 

 wards a Winter Wren appeared in the same bush, up from below and perched 

 there for a time bowing or bobbing. 



It was when the bird had the wings held open "fanning" that it brought 

 into prominence some white markings on the feathers that were raised on 

 the rump. The glimpse one had, made it difficult to decide whether the white 

 was on the secondary tertial or rump feathers, but there was sufficient to 

 draw attention, though so inconspicuous, that I had to make sure by exam- 

 ining the skins in Mr. Laing's collection. We found that when the feathers 

 on the rump were parted there were some that showed white markings or spots. 



Nesting. — The nests of the western winter wren are apparently 

 very similar, in construction and in the kinds of material used, to 

 those of the eastern bird, but the locations chosen seem to be some- 

 what more varied. Dawson and Bowles (1909) say: 



For nesting sites the Wrens avaU themselves of cubbyholes and crannies in 

 upturned roots or fallen logs, and fire-holes in half-burned stumps. A favorite 

 situation is one of the crevices which occur in a large fir tree when it falls 

 and splits open. Or the nest is sometimes found under the bark of a decaying 

 log, or in a crevice of earth in an unused mine-shaft. If the site selected 

 has a wide entrance, this is walled up by the nesting material and only a 

 smooth round aperture an inch and a quarter in diameter is left to admit 

 to the nest proper. In default of such shelter, birds have been known to 

 construct their nests at the center of some baby fir, or in the drooping branches 

 of a fir tree at a height of a foot or more from the ground. 



Mr. Rathbun mentions in his notes a nest that was still farther 

 from the ground: "The nest was attached very near the extremity 

 of one of the lower limbs of a small hemlock tree at a height of 

 12 feet. It was almost round in shape and resembled a bunch of 

 moss hanging from the limb, but it was too perfect in shape to 

 deceive me." 



