THE WESTERN WINTER WREN. 313 
absurdly as being the clicking of the ratchet in a music-box being wound up 
for action. 
Heard at close quarters the bird will occasionally employ a ventriloquial 
trick, dropping suddenly to sotto voce, so that the song appears to come from 
adistance. Again, it will 
move crescendo and di- 
minuendo, as tho the 
supply pipe of this mu- 
sical cascade were sub- 
mitted to varying pres- 
sure at the fountain 
head. 
A singing bird is the 
best evidence available 
of the proximity of the 
nest. Usually the male 
bird posts himself near 
the sitting female and 
publishes his domestic 
happiness in musical 
numbers. But again, he 
may only be _ pausing 
to congratulate himself 
upon the successful com- 
pletion of another decoy, 
and the case is hopeless 
for the nonce. 
For nesting sites the 
Wrens avail themselves 
of cubby-holes and cran- 
nies in upturned roots or 
fallen logs, and fire-holes 
in half-burned stumps. 
A favorite situation js N&ST OF WESTERN WINTER WREN IN CHARRED STUMP. 
. NOTE THAT A SPIDER WEB ABOVE CLOSELY SIMULATES THE NEST- 
one of the Crevices ENTRANCE, WHICH IS REALLY ABOUT MIDWAY, 
which occur in a large 
fir tree when it falls and splits open. Or the nest is sometimes found under 
the bark of a decaying log, or in a crevice of earth in an unused mine-shaft. 
If the site selected has a wide entrance, this is walled up by the nesting ma- 
terial and only a smooth round aperture an inch and a quarter in diameter is 
left to admit to the nest proper. In default of any such shelter, birds have 
been known to construct their nests at the center of some baby fir, or in the 
Taken in Seattle. Photo by the Author, 
