70 LAND-BIRDS. 



a. About four inches long. Tail, rather short. Essentially 

 like the next species in coloration ; but superciliary line, and 

 (generally) markings on the wing, whitish. Habits very 

 different. 



b. Five eggs, not quite fresh, which I took from a nest in 

 the White Mountains on the 23d of July, 1875 (probably 

 those of a second set), were pure crystal white, thinly and 

 minutely speckled with bright reddish brown, and averaging 

 about .70 X .55 of an inch. The nest, thickly lined with 

 feathers of the Kuffed Grouse, was in a low moss-covered 

 stump about a foot high, in a dark swampy forest filled with 

 tangled piles of fallen trees and branches. The entrance to 

 the nest, on one side, was very narrow, its diameter being less 

 than an inch, and was covered with an overhanging bit of 

 moss, which the bird was obliged to push up on going in. Dr. 

 Brewer describes other eggs as measuring .65 X .48 of an inch, 

 and " spotted with a bright reddish brown and a few pale 

 markings of purplish slate, on a pure white ground." The 

 nest containing these eggs, which were six in number, " was 

 built in an occupied log hut, among the fir leaves and mosses in 

 a crevice between the logs." It was found by Mr. William 

 F. Hall " at Camp Sebois, in the central eastern portion of 

 Maine." 



c. The Winter Wrens are not very common in this State, 

 and are generally seen here only in April and October, when 

 migrating. They spend their summers in the most northern 

 parts of New England and the cold countries beyond, and 

 their winters to the southward of Massachusetts. 38 They are 

 so little social as generally to travel singly, and to avoid the 

 neighborhood of man, usually frequenting, when journeying, 

 woods, or roadsides bordered by them, though I have also seen 

 them in woodpiles near houses or barns. In such places they 

 busy, themselves about the piles of brush and logs ; when 

 frightened often taking refuge in stone walls, if any be near, 

 where, on account of their small size and great activity, they 

 are as much at home as squirrels. When they have once taken 

 to such a retreat, it is impossible to keep sight of them for 



88 I have heard of but few instances of their being seen in this State in winter. 



