174 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



small grubs which the busy little parents pick out of the bark of the 

 coniferous trees. They are fed on insects and worms also. After the 

 sixth day the food is mostly given in the fresh condition. The wren 

 nestlings leave the nest between the seventeenth and twenty-first 

 days." 



Grinnell and Storer (1924) watched a nest containing young that 

 was located on the edge of a small stream, only 13 inches above the 

 water. They write: 



The parent was busily engaged in feeding large green worms, millers, crane- 

 flies, and other insects to the young. A beam of light reflected into the nest from 

 a mirror did not seem to frighten the wrens and so it was possible to observe 

 closely the process of feeding. The old bird made visits at intervals of 4, 9, 

 2, 2, 7, 8, and 3 minutes, respectively ; twice, at the second and last of these timed 

 visits, the bird carried away excrement. The young void the excrement (which 

 is enclosed in a gelatinous sac) immediately after being fed; it is dropped by 

 them on the rim of the nest where it lies as a conspicuous spherical white ob- 

 ject, the size of a large bean. The old bird seizes this in her bill and in one 

 instance carried it away fully 50 feet before depositing it in a wild currant 

 bush. One sac fell into the small stream and as it floated slowly along the sur- 

 face the bird snatched nervously at it again and again. Finally it was re- 

 covered, whereupon the bird flew off and disposed of it in the usual manner, in a 

 place where it would give no clue to the location of the nest. 



Food. — No comprehensive, detailed study of the food of the western 

 winter wren seems to have been made, but it probably does not differ 

 much from that of other wrens in its habitat. It seems to subsist almost 

 wholly, if not entirely, on insects and their larvae. The items men- 

 tioned in the food of the young, above, probably constitute the bulk 

 of its food. 



Behavior. — Anyone familiar with our eastern winter wren would 

 recognize this little westerner by its behavior. It is the same, nervous, 

 active little mouse, dodging about near the ground, in and out of 

 tangles and the roots of trees, and about prostrate logs, bowing and 

 bobbing, with its short tail cocked up over its back. Grinnell and 

 Storer (1924) say: 



The bird seems to sldp along and uses both the short wings and long legs in 

 all its ordinary movements. It seems equally at ease on a nearly vertical twig 

 and on a horizontal root or branchlet. 



One evening just at sunset, in October, while our party was camped near 

 Sweetwater Creek, a winter wren was watched as it came down to bathe. The 

 bird fluttered down, half flying, half hopping, to a small pool completely screened 

 from above. It would stay a few seconds, splashing in the water, and then 

 move to a perch a few feet above the pool, soon to return for another brief dip. 

 Five or six such short visits were made and then the bird returned to the perch 

 where it stayed for a while, fluffing out all its feathers, and using its bill to press 

 out the water. Two or three minutes sufficed to complete its toilet and then the 

 wren made off down the creek to a brush pile. 



Voice. — What has been written about the voice of the eastern winter 

 wren would apply equally well to its western relative. The song is 



