152 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



liir«,^er and (lnrk<T form of tlie present .species, liardly distinct enouijli to lie 

 treated even as a race. Mr. AiuIhIkui nu?t witli an individual near Kast)>ort 

 in 18:^)2. Tlie younjjj were following; their ])arents through the tanjjfled re- 

 ces.ses of a dark forest, in search of fiMul. Others were obtained in the same 

 l)art of Elaine, near Dennisville, where Mr. Lincoln informed Mr. Audiihon 

 tliat this bird was the common Wren of the neij^hhorliood, and that they bred 

 in hollow logs in the woods, but seldom a})i>roac]ied farm-houses. 



In the winter tbllowing, at Charleston, S. C, Mr. Audubon again met indi- 

 viduals of tliis suj)])osed s|)ecies, sliowing tlie same habits as in Maine, re- 

 maining in thick hedges, along ditches in the woods, not far from }>lantations. 

 The notes are described Jis differing considerably fr(>m those of the House 

 Wren. It has not been seen by Mr. Doardman, tliough resicUng in tlie 

 region where it is said to be tlie common Wren. l*rofessor Verrill mentions 

 it as a rare bird in Western Elaine. 



Mr. Charles S. Paine, of liandolph, Vt., is the only natumlist who has 

 met with what he suj)i)oses were its nest and eggs. The following is his 

 account, communicated bv letter. 



" The Wood Wren comes among us in the spring about the l()tli or loth 

 of April, and sings habitually as it skips among the brush and logs and 

 under the roots and stamps of trees. In erne instance I have known it to 

 make its a]>pearance in midwinter, and to be al>out the house and barn some 

 time. It is only occasionally that they spend the snnnner here (Central 

 Vermont). The ne.st from which I obtained the egg y(m now have, I found 

 about the f rst of duly, just as the young were about to fly. There were five 

 young birds and one egg. The nest was Imilt on the hanging bark of a de- 

 caying beech-log, close under the h)g. A great quantity of moss and rotten 

 wood had been collected and filled in around the nest, and a little round hole 

 left for the entrance. The nest was lined with a soft, downv sul)stance. I 

 have no doubt that they sometimes commence to breed as early as the middle 

 of May, as I have seen their young out in early June." 



Mr. Paine discredits the statement that tliev build their nests in holes in 

 the ground. The egg leferred to by Mr. Paine is oval in shape, slightly more 

 pointed at one end, measuring .To of an inch in length by .53 in breadth. 

 The ground is a dead chalky-wlii.2, over which are sprinkled a few very fine 

 d(»ts of a light yellowish-brown, slightly more numerous al the larger end. 

 This ^<y^, while it bears some resemblance to that of the Winter Wren, is 

 totally unlike that of the House Wren. 



