NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



475 



722a. WESTERN WINTER WREN. T/w//o/////r lri<-in<ili* jmciflrux Balrd. 

 Geog. Dist. Pacific coast region from Sitka to Southern California; south in winter 

 to Western Mexico; east to Eastern Oregon, Nevada, etc. 



This subspecies breeds from the southern coast ranges of California north to 

 Sitka. Habits, nesting and eggs like those of T. IticmaUs of the East. Eggs .60x.48. 



723. ALASKAN WREN. Troglodytes alascensls Baird. Geog. Dist. Aleutian 

 and Pribilof Islands, Alaska. 



"In a small collection of birds' skins, nests and 

 eggs recently acquired by the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology, collected at the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, is 

 the nest and two eggs of the Alaskan Wren (Troglo- 

 dytes parruhiB var. alascensis), which are believed to 

 be the first ever seen by Naturalists. The nest is 

 quite large and very compactly built, being composed 

 externally of fine moss of a bright green color, inter- 

 woven with fine roots, and lined heavily with hair and 

 feathers. Conspicuous among the latter are the rosy- 

 tipped feathers of the Leucosticte grlseinuclia. The 

 hairs are rather coarse and white, three to four inches 

 in length, and appear to be hairs of the Polar bear. 

 The nest was obtained in June, 1876, on St. Georgo 

 Island, by Mr. W. J. Mclntyre, to whom it was brought 723. ALASKAN WREN (From Turner.) 

 by a native. It is said to have been placed deep down in the crevices of large rocks, 

 and to have originally contained twelve eggs, all but two of which were broken be- 

 fore they came into Mr. Mclntyre's possession. These measure, respectively, .68 by 

 .51 and .60 by .50. Their general color is dull white, with a very few minute dots of 

 reddish, so few and small as to be easily overlooked." J. A. Allen, Bull. Nutt. Orn. 

 Club, July, 1877, p. 82. 



724. SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. CistotJtorus stcllaris (Licht.) Geog. 

 Dist. Eastern United States and Southern British Provinces, west to the Great 

 Plains. Winters in the Gulf States and 



southward. 



The reedy swamps, fresh water 

 marshes and meadows of Eastern 

 United States are the summer home of 

 the Short-billed Marsh Wren. Breeds 

 abundantly in Western Manitoba, and 

 occasionally in the southern portions of 

 its range, but chiefly north of latitude 

 40. The late Colonel Goss states that 

 t possibly breeds in Kansas and Messrs. 

 Keyes and Williams give it as a rather 

 common summer resident of Iowa. Dr. 

 Agersborg has recorded it as a rare 

 breeder in Southeastern Dakota. The 

 Short-billed Marsh Wren is a summer 

 .esident of Ohio, but here, as is the case 

 elsewhere, it is not so abundant as the 

 Long-billed species. The nest cor- 

 -esponds to that of the Long-billed, but 

 no mud is used in its construction. It 

 is Jpuilt in the midst of a tussock of 

 TJOElrse, high grass, the tops of which are 

 ingeniously interwoven into a coarse 

 and strong covering, spherical in shape, 

 and closed on every side, except one 

 small aperture left for entrance. The 

 Strong, Wiry grass Of the tUSSOCk is also 724. SHORT-BH.LBD MARSH WREN AMD NKST (Cheney del.; 



