254 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Dr. Cooper lias since observed them in California, and in the winter, in 

 the Colorado Valley, where they roosted at night under the eaves of the gar- 

 rison buildings. They make their appearance at San Francisco as early 

 as March 16, and nest at San Diego in April. He has found their nests 

 in hollow trees at various heights, from five to forty feet, all composed of a 

 floor and barricade of long dry twigs, grass, and bark, loosely placed, but so 

 interwoven as to leave only just space for the birds to squeeze in over them. 

 They are warmly lined with a large quantity of feathers. Their eggs he 

 o'ives as from five to nine in number. 



o 



The late Mr. Hepburn has furnished more full and exact information in 

 regard to this species. We give it in his own words. 



" The T. parkmanni is the common wren of Vancouver Island, far more 

 so than of California, where I have found the Bewick's Wren {T. JjcAvickii) 

 much more numerous. Parkman's Wren builds its nest in hollow trees in 

 Vancouver Island, about the middle of May, forndng it of small sticks laid 

 at the bottom of the hole, neatly and comfortably lining it on the inside with 

 feathers that arch over the eggs. It will also readily avail itself of any 

 similar and equally convenient cavity. I have known these birds to build 

 under the roof of a frame house, entering by a hole between the topmost 

 board and the shingles ; also in a hole in a gate-post, through which gate 

 people were continually passing ; and also over a doorway, getting in by a 

 loose board, in a place where the nest could be reached by the hand. ' In 

 1852 I put a cigar-box, with a hole cut in one end, between the forks of a 

 tree in a garden at Victoria. A pair of Wrens speedily took possession of 

 it and formed their nest therein, laying seven eggs, the first on the 18th of 

 May. The eggs of this Wren are white, thickly freckled with pink spots, 

 so much so in some specimens as to give a general pink appearance to the 

 egg itself, but forming a zone of a darker hue near the larger end. They 

 are .81 of an inch in length by .50 in width." 



Their eggs resemble those of the T. ccdon so as to be hardly distinguish- 

 able, yet on comparing several sets of each there seem to be these constant 

 differences. The spots of the western species are finer, less marked, more 

 numerous, and of a pinker shade of reddish-brown. The eggs, too, range a 

 little smaller in size, though exhibiting great variations. In one nest the 

 average measurement of its seven eggs is .60 by .50, that of another set of 

 the same number .70 by .50 of an inch. 



In all respects, habits, manners, and notes, Parkman's Wren is a perfect 

 counterpart of the eastern House Wren. In the country east of the Sierra 

 Nevada it almost wholly replaces the western Bewick's Wren {Thri/othonis 

 hewickii, \SiV. spilwus), and inhabits any wooded localities, as little preference 

 being given to the cottonwoods of the river valleys as to the aspen groves 

 high up in the mountains. 



