WRENS: Family Troglodytidae [ 453 ] 



Western Winter Wren: 



Nannus hiemalis pacificus (Baird) 



DESCRIPTION. "Tail less than three-fourths as long as wing; outstretched feet reach- 

 ing far beyond its end. Upper parts dark brown, brighter on rump and upper tail 

 coverts; wings, tail, and often back and rump narrowly barred with blackish; super- 

 ciliary stripe, throat, and breast, tawny; belly and under tail coverts barred; flanks 

 darker. Length: 3.60-4.15, wing 1.80-1.90, tail 1.2.0-1.35, exposed culmen .40-. 45." 

 (Bailey) Nest: In heavy timber, in crevices of logs or stumps, made of moss, lined 

 with feathers. Eggs: 5 to 7, white or cream, sparingly spotted with small brown 

 dots. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Prince Williams Sound, Alaska, and western 

 Alberta south to southern California and Colorado. Winters throughout western 

 United States. In Oregon: Common permanent resident of timbered sections. 



THIS PERT little bit of brown fluff, the Western Winter Wren (Plate 78, B), 

 is one of the comparatively few birds that like the dense shade of the 

 heaviest fir and spruce forests in Oregon. In their gloomy depths, whether 

 it be at seashore or timber line, this mouselike mite will be found darting 

 about in the thick brush or hopping about the fallen logs. One can often 

 hear it scolding, but it is impossible to catch a glimpse of the bird itself 

 in the dense jungles. During the nesting season, however, the male 

 mounts to the top of a convenient stump and bursts forth in the most 

 amazing loud, clear song that ever came from a brown protuberance. 

 Lewis and Clark (1814), who seldom mentioned small birds, listed this 

 one as present at the mouth of the Columbia on January z, 1806. Merrill 

 (1888) published the first record from eastern Oregon, from Fort Klamath, 

 but since then the species has appeared frequently in Oregon literature. 

 It is present throughout the year and has been found in every county of 

 western Oregon, and in Wallowa, Baker, Union, Grant, Umatilla, Des- 

 chutes, Lake, Klamath, Wasco, and Hood River Counties in eastern 

 Oregon. It is particularly common in the higher areas where spruce and 

 fir thickets abound. Jewett has two nesting records, a set of three fresh 

 eggs found at Anthony (Eagle Creek), Baker County, May 8, 1907, and 

 a set of five fresh eggs found at Milwaukie, Clackamas County, April 5, 



Seattle Wren: 



Thryomanes beivicki calophonus Oberholser 



DESCRIPTION. "Superciliary white; upper parts rich dark brown, slightly deeper on 

 head; tail black, middle feathers sepia brown barred with black, the rest tipped with 

 gray and barred with brown, outer pair barred toward end with whitish; under 

 parts grayish white, lightest on throat, tinged with brown on sides and flanks; 

 under tail coverts barred with black. Wing: z.oy, tail 1.03, exposed culmen .56." 

 (Bailey) Nest: A bulky mass of sticks, lined with feathers and placed about build- 

 ings, holes in stumps, and similar places. Eggs: 5 to 7, white or pinkish, finely 

 speckled with brown sometimes evenly over the entire eggs and at others only 

 about the larger end. 



