THE OOLOGIST. 



69 



entrance not more than an inch in di- 

 ameter is left near the top of this 

 wall , while the bottom and sides of the 

 cavity are padded with green moss. 

 This snug little hollow, some three 

 inches in diameter, is then Marmly 

 lined with feathers for the reception of 

 the eggs. This type of nest is the most 

 common, and also the simplest in con- 

 struction. 



The next most commonly used site 

 is some fallen giant of the forest that 

 has split open upon striking the 

 ground. Hidden deep in some part of 

 the split, the wren builds a rather pre- 

 tentious little nest, usually somewhat 

 arched over. 



Nearly as often as the last named 

 method, these wrens will build a nest 

 precisely resembling that of a marsh 

 wren in all except the materials used. 

 These nests are very bulky, handsome 

 structures, and are usually suspended 

 from five to ten feet above the ground 

 amongst the drooping sprays of some 

 large fir limb. Sometimes, however, 

 it is built in the center of a baby fir 

 only three or four feet high_ 



Other sites in which the nests may 

 be found are as follows: In some 

 huge bunch of green moss suspended 

 from a tree, very much like many 

 nests that I have seen of the Northern 

 Parula Warbler (Compsothlypis ameri- 

 cana usnare). Again it will be under 

 a large scale of bark that has separat- 

 ed a few inches from the trunk of 

 some fallen tree. Several times I have 

 found it in the roof of an old placer 

 mine, or under the arch of some bank 

 of earth. Indeed, until last summer, I 

 thought I had pretty well solved their 

 nesting affairs, but my lack of knowl- 

 edge was again made evident by the 

 discovery of a beautiful set of six 

 eggs placed in a hole in a small 

 stump. This was evidently an old bor- 

 ing made by some passing chickadee 

 or small woodi)ecker. the nest being 



placed at the bottom of the cavity in 

 the same manner as a chickadee. 



So erratic are they in their habits 

 that it is impossible to say with cer- 

 tainty that more than one brood is 

 reared in a season. It do not consider 

 it as probable, although if the first set 

 of eggs is removed, another set is usu- 

 ally laid in the vicinity. The earliest 

 eggs I ever saw were a set of four on 

 April 15th that were ready to hatch, 

 but most commonly fresh eggs may be 

 found in the third week of that month. 

 In the mountains they breed practical- 

 ly up to the timber line, starting in 

 nest building as soon as the snow gets 

 melted away to a convenient level. At 

 such altitudes as 6,000 feet I have 

 found fresh eggs as late as the last 

 week in June, but I have no reason to 

 think the birds had nested before that 

 date. 



The eggs in a set vary from four to 

 six in number, but most commonly five 

 are laid. The ground color is a delicate 

 milky white, rather sparingly marked 

 with dots of pale reddish brown. They 

 vary in shape from rounded to elong- 

 ate ovate, and always impress me as 

 being very large for such a small bird, 

 averaging in measurement .65 x .49 

 inches. 



These wrens are most often indus- 

 trious builders cf decoy nests. One 

 pair cf birds will generally stake out 

 a claim covering about one hundred 

 yards of territory, making im- 

 provements here and there in the 

 shape of false nests, often to the num- 

 ber cf six or eight These "decoys" 

 are almost always built entirely of 

 moss, and in this way they may be dis- 

 tinguished from the real nest which 

 has a liberal facing cf dead twigs. 

 &l;ould the f rst set of eggs be taken, 

 a seccnd set is often laid in one of 

 these "decoys," which is about the 

 only use I have ever seen for them. I 

 will not say the only use, because 



