THE WESTERN WINTER WREN. 



313 



absunllv as being llic clicking nt the ratchet in a niusic-bux l)eing wuuml up 

 for action. 



Heard at close (|uarters the bird will occasionally eni])lc>y a ventriloiitnal 

 trick, dropping suddenly to soil.' rv,,-, m> that the song ai)]iears t.. cnnie fn. in 

 a distance. Again, it will 

 move crescendo and di- 

 minuendo, as tho the 

 supply pipe of this mu- 

 sical cascade were sulj- 

 mitted to varying pres- 

 sure at the fountain 

 head. 



j\ singing bird is the 

 best exidence available 

 of the proximity of the 

 nest. Usually the male 

 bird posts himself near 

 the sitting female and 

 publishes his domestic 

 ha]i]:)iness in musical 

 numbers. But again, he 

 may only be pausing 

 to congratulate himsel f 

 upon the successful com- 

 pletion of another decoy, 

 and the case is hopeles- 

 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 is 

 one of the crevices 

 which ciccur in a large 

 lir 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. 

 H 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 i)ro|)er. In default of any such shelter, birds have 

 been known to construct their nests at the center of some babv fir, nr in the 



Token ill Si\:llU-. ritalo by tlic Author. 



NKST OF WESTEUX WIXTEK W KEX IX CH.\RHEI) STUMP. 



NOTE THAT A SPIDER 



ENTRANCE, 



VEB ABOVE CUOSEUY SIMULATES THE NEST- 

 MICH IS REALLY 4B0l'T MIDWAY. 



