THE WESTERN WINTER WREN. 311 



of decayed stuni])s. brush-heaps, etc. ligys: 4-7. usually 5. while or creauiy-white, 

 dotted tinely but s])aringly with reddish brown ; occasionally blotched with the 

 same: sometimes almost unmarked. .\v. size .69 x .50 (17.5x12.7). Season: 

 first week in .\])ril to lirst week in July according to altitude: two broods. 



General Range. — Western North .America, breeding from southern Cali- 

 fornia to southern .\laska, east to western Montana. Chiefly resident, but south 

 irregularly in Great i'.asin States and California in winter. 



Range in Washington. — Resident in coniferous timber from sea level to limit 

 of trees: less common east of the Cascade Mountains: of irregular occurrence in 

 open country during migrations. 



Authorities. — | Lewis and Clark, Hist. (1814) Ed. Biddle: Cones. \'ol. Jl. 

 p. 186.) ? r)rn. Com. Journ. .\c. Xat. Sci. Phila. MI. 1837, 193 (Columbia 

 Riven. Troglodytes (.hiorthuraj liYCiiialis Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 

 1858, p. 369. (T). C&S. L'. Rh. D'. "Kb. Ra. Kk. J. B. E. 



Specimens.— U. of W. P. Prov. P.. P.X. E. 



Chick — chick chick — chick chick: it is the Winter Wren's way of say- 

 ing Ho\v-dc)-vou-do ? wlien you invade his domain in the damp forest. The 

 \()ice is a size too large for such a mite of a bird, and one does not understand 

 its circumtlexed quality until he sees its possessor making an emphatic curtsey 

 with each utterence. It is not every day that the recluse beholds a man, and 

 it niav he that lie has stolen a march under cover of the ferns and salal 

 brush before touching off his little mine of interrogatives at your knees. If 

 so, his bru.s(|ue little being is softened by a friendly twinkle, as he notes your 

 surprise and then darts back chuckling to the cover of a fallen log. 



Again, if your entrance inlu the woods has been unnoticed, so that the 

 little huntsman comes upon you in the regular way of business, it is amusing 

 to watch witli what ruses of circumvention he seeks to inspect you. Now 

 lie a])pears above a root on your right gawking on tiptoe: then drops at a 

 flash behind its shelter to reprove himself in upbraiding (7;(VA' c/nV/o's for his 

 rashness. Then, after a minute of apprehensive silence on your part, a 

 diuckle at vour other elbow announces that the insi)Cction is satisfactorily 

 com])letc(l on that side. The Lilli])utian has you at his mercy, Mr. Gulliver. 



Dr. Coo])er, writing fiftv years ago. considered this the commonest 

 species in the fore.sts of "the Territory." With the possible cxce])tion of 

 the Golden-crowned Kinglet, this is probably still true, since it is found not 

 merelv along streams and in romantic dells, but thruout ^le somber depths of 

 the fir and spruce forests from sea level to the limit of trees. It is fond of the 

 wilderness and has as yet learned no necessity of dependence upon man, but it 

 bv no means shuns the edges of town, if only sufficient density of cover be 

 ])rovided. Because of the more open character of ]iine timber, the Winter 

 Wren is less common and is altogether local in its distribution east of the 

 mountains. l)eing confined for the most part to those forest afeas which boast 

 an infusion of fir and tamarack. 



