THE WESTERN HOUSE WREN. 307 
it is quite as likely to be found in a house in the heart of a city. A few of the 
nesting sites | have recorded are in upturned roots of fallen trees, deserted 
woodpecker holes, in bird boxes in the city, in a fishing creel hanging on a 
porch, under a slab of bark that has scaled away a few inches from the body 
of a tree, or an open nest built on a beam under a bridge. ; 
“A very complete study of this wren has convinced me that it never builds 
any nests except those used in raising the young. In other words, it is the only 
wren in the Northwest that is positively guiltless of using ‘decoys’. 
“In constructing the nest these birds do not often take over ten days, in 
which proceeding the female does all the work. One pair, however, that I 
visited occasionally, were over a month in completing a small nest in the 
natural cavity of a stump. No explanation of this seems possible, except that 
the female was not ready to lay her eggs any sooner. 
“The nest is a rather slight affair, as a rule, the average nest containing 
much less material than that of any other wren that I have seen. It is com- 
posed of fine dried grass, skeleton leaves, green moss, wool, and very rarely 
has a basis of twigs, with a lining of hair, the cast skins of snakes, and many 
feathers. 
“A set contains from four to six eggs, most commonly five. These are 
pure white in ground color, marked with fine dots of reddish brown. The 
markings are variable in distribution, some specimens being marked very spar- 
ingly over all, while in others the markings are largely concentrated around the 
larger end in the form of a more or less confluent ring. The eggs are rather 
short ovate oval in shape, and average in measurements .68 x .54 inches. 
““Two broods are reared in a season; or perhaps it would be more correct 
to say that fresh eggs may be found at any time between the middle of April 
and the middle of June. 
“Altho rather timid in the vicinity of her nest, the female generally 
remains on her eggs until disturbed by a jar or some loud noise. She then 
disappears and neither bird appears nor makes any complaint in objection 
to the intruder.” 
No. 119. 
WESTERN HOUSE WREN. 
A. O. U. No. 721a. Troglodytes aedon parkmanii (Aud.). 
Synonyms.—ParRKMAN’s WREN. PacrFic House WREN. 
Description.—4dult: Above, grayish rufous-brown, duller and lighter on 
foreparts; brighter and more rufous on rump, which has concealed downy white 
