WRENS 



195 



with dusky ; rest of under parts, speckled or finely 

 marked '^u'ith dusky on a pale wood-brown or cinnamon 

 ground-color; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In cavity of stump, or 

 among roots of upturned tree; constructed of small 

 twigs, plant stems, moss, and lichens woven together 

 and warmly lined with moss, fur. hair, and feathers, 

 with a small circular opening. Eccs : 5 to 7 or 8, 

 creamy-white, minutely dotted with reddish-brown and 

 lavender. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States and Canada ; 

 north to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New 

 Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba ; breeding 

 southward to Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, and 

 Wisconsin, more rarely to northern Indiana and Illinois 

 and central Iowa, and through mountain districts of 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, \'irginia, and West \'irginia 

 to western North Carolina ; wintering from near south- 

 ern breeding limit to northern Florida and thence along 

 Gulf coast to Texas. 



" Such a dapper, fidgety, gesticulating, bob- 

 bing-up-and-down-and-out-and-in little bird, and 

 yet full of such sweet, wild melody !" is Mr. Bur- 

 roughs's capital description of the Winter Wren. 

 All too seldom do we hear this " sweet, wild 

 melody," instinct with that indefinable yet elo- 

 quent message straight from the soul of Nature. 

 Fortunate indeed is the listener whose heart can 

 receive that message! Yet it is heard by too few 

 who could really heed it, because the singer comes 

 infrequently within the hearing of those whose 

 ears are properly attuned. 



The bird's northern migration in April takes 

 it into the depths of the Canadian wilderness 

 and swamps, though it may be found breeding 

 in stich surroundings in northern Massachusetts 

 and southern New Hampshire and Vermont, in 

 the Catskills and in northern New York and in 

 the northern part of the lower peninsula of 

 Michigan. Mr Hoffmann describes the song as 

 " long and high, in two eqtially balanced parts, 

 the first ending in a contralto trill, the second in 

 a very high trill ; after a little interval the song 

 is repeated or answered." Thoreau likened the 

 song of a bird he failed to identify, to " a fine 

 corkscrew stream issuing with incessant lisping 

 tinkle from a cork, flowing rapidly, and I said 

 that he had pulled out the spile and left it run- 

 ning." And this probably was the song of the 

 \\'inter ^^'ren. 



The bird somewhat resembles the House \\'ren. 



though it is about an inch shorter, this abbre- 

 viation being especially noticeable in the Winter 

 Wren's tail, which it holds up. Wren-fashion, 

 over its back but tipped even further forward 

 than are those of his relatives. Another dis- 

 tinguishing mark is the brownish-buffy line over 

 the W'inter Wren's eye, which the House Wren 

 lacks. Again, the Winter Wren sings almost 

 invariably from a low perch on a dead limb, or 

 sometimes even when hidden in a brush-heap or 

 in dense undergrowth. Apparently, as Mr. Tor- 

 rey said, he believes that little birds should be 

 heard and not seen. 



Two regional varieties of the Winter Wren 

 are the W^estern Winter Wren {Naiiuits hicmalis 

 pacificus), found in western North America, 

 breeding from Alaska south to central California 

 and northern Colorado and wintering from south- 

 ern British Columbia to southern California and 

 southern New Mexico, and the Kodiak Winter 

 Wren (Nauiiiis hiciualis hcJIcri). found on the 

 island of that name. Roth are larger and darker 

 than the eastern form. 



The Alaska \\'ren (Nannus alascciisis) and 

 the Aleutian, or Attn, Wren (Nannus uicligcr) 

 are closely allied to the Winter \\'rens. Thev 

 average larger and their coloration is paler and 

 duller. The Alaska Wren is found in the west- 

 ern part of the Alaska peninsula and the islands 

 off the coast while the Aleutian is confined to the 

 western islands of the group of that name. 



SHORT-BILLED 

 Cistothorus Stella 



A. O. U. Number 7^4 



Other Names. — Fresh-water Marsh Wren; Meadow 

 Wren ; Grass Wren. 



General Description. — Length. 4' j inches. Upper 

 parts, black, pale brown, and whitish in streaks ; under 

 parts, white and cinnamon-buff. Bill, much shorter 

 than head, rather stout, nearly straight ; wings, short 

 and rounded ; tail nearly as long as wing, graduated 

 for 2/5 its length, the feathers narrow, tapering toward 

 the end but with rounded tip. 



MARSH WREN 



ris i A^aitmann) 



See Color Plate lo.- 



Color. — Croien. streaked with black and light brown, 

 except on forehead, which is sometimes uniform brown ; 

 hindneck li.ght brown ; hack and shoiddcrs. black, nar- 

 rowly streaked with brownish-white ; rump, light bufify- 

 brown or cinnamon-brown, streaked or otherwise 

 varie.gated, chiefly along central line, with black and 

 whitish ; upper tail-coverts, light brown, barred with 

 black and tipped with dull whitish ; tail, barred with 

 black and light grayish-brown in varying relative pro- 



