IX.— On the NiDlFICATION OF THE WiNTER WrEN IN NoVA 



Scotia. — By Harry Piers, Assoc. Member A. 0. U. 



(Read April 11th, 1S02.) 



Only very few completely identified nests of this common 

 species (Troglodytes hiemalis) have so far been discovered by 

 naturalists. The description, therefore, of one in the present 

 writer's possession, may help somewhat toward a more complete 

 account of its breeding habits, of which we at the present time 

 possess but scant knowledge. 



For the sake of comparison, it is advisable to give short 

 notes on most of those which have already been collected in 

 other localities. In doing so, I shall mainly notice such as have 

 been summarised by Rev. J. H. Langille.* 



Audubon found two nests, each containing six eggs. The first 

 was discovered in the pine woods near Mauch Chunk on the 

 Lehigh River, Pennsylvania. It was placed on the lower portion 

 of a tree-trunk and has been described as a " protuberance 

 covered with moss and lichens, resembling those excrescences 

 which are often seen on our forest trees, with this diflference, that 

 the aperture was perfectly rounded, clean, and quite smooth. . . . 

 Externally, it measured seven inches in length, four and a half 

 in breadth ; the thickness of its walls, composed of moss and 

 lichens, was nearly two inches ; and thus it presented internally 

 the appearance of a narrow bag, the wall, however, being reduced 

 to a few lines where it was in contact with the bark of the tree. 

 The lower half of the cavity was compactly lined with the fur of 

 the American Hare, and in the bot.tom or bed of the nest there 

 lay over this about half-a-dozen of the large, downy abdominal 

 feathers of our common Grouse (Tetrao umbellus). The eggs 

 were of a delicate blush colour, somewhat resembling the paler 

 leaves of a partially decayed rose, and marked with dots of red- 

 dish-brown, more numerous toward the larger end." The other 

 nest was found on the bank of the Mohawk River, New York 



»" Our Birds in their Haunts," 1884, p. 282 et seq. 



