THE WESTERN HOUSE WREN. 



309 



Aiuliibon. Orn. Biog. \'. i<S39. 310 (Columbia River). Troylodxtcs parknuiiini. 

 AwX.. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. XII. \A. 11. 18^8, p. 368. (T.) C&S. D'. Ra. 

 D-\ Ss^ Kk. J. B. E. 



Specimens. — U. of W. IVov. 1'. li. 



SI.XCK our country is i)reUy well .supplied with Wrens, and those too 

 which are content with (jur climate the year around, this bustling down-Easter, 

 arriving at what he considers tlie proper season, does not figure so largely in 

 local bird society as across 

 the Rockies. Altho original- 

 ly described by Audubon 

 from material secured by 

 Townsend, at Vancouver, in 

 the Thirties, parkinanii gives 

 evidence of being a new- 

 comer, comparatively speak- 

 ing. In the first place, the 

 late arrival. April 25th at 

 Puget Sound points, marks 

 the .s])ecies in which the tra- 

 dition of a hard climate is 

 still strong. And, in the 

 second place, the slightly 

 paler plumage accpiired while 

 crossing the desert has not 

 yet been lost, altho it is very 

 certain that it could not long 

 withstand consecutive cen- 

 turies of residence in our 

 humid climate. It is not 

 sur])rising. therefore, that 

 the House Wren is not 

 abundant nor well distribut- 

 ed in western Washington. 

 On the East-side it is neither 

 common nor rare, being 

 found about long-established 

 ranches and wherever the 

 presence of a little timber 

 affords the variety of cover which is essential to its happiness. 



Once u])on the scene, however, a little House W'ren goes a great ways. 

 He is bursting with energy, and music escapes from his busy mandibles like 

 steam from a safety valve. The first task is to renovate last year's (piarters, 



Oregon. 



Photo hy IV. L. Finley. 

 A VERY BUSY WRKN. 



APPEARS, HOWEVER. THE PICTURE IS A 

 RESENTS THE SAME BIRD TWICE. 



