BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. -iSo 



231. Olbiorchilus hiemalis (Vieill.). 

 Winter Wren. 



Transient visitor, uncommon in autumn, rare in spring ; occasionally present in winter. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



April 10 — 25. 

 April 29, 1893, one seen, Arlington or vicinity, W. Faxon. 



September 19, 1878, one female 1 taken, Belmont, H. M. Spelman. 

 September 20 — November 25. (Winter.) 



One is most likely to meet with the Winter Wren during the month of 

 October or the first half of November, when it is passing southward on migration. 

 I have found it oftenest in the Fresh Pond Swamps, in the region just beyond 

 Mount Auburn and along the high ridge that extends from Arlington to 

 Waverley. It is a retiring and elusive little bird, given to frequenting wood 

 piles, brush heaps, old fences and stone walls overrun with poison ivy, rocky 

 hillsides covered with undergrowth, and tangled thickets in swamps and along 

 the courses of brooks. In such places it may be easily overlooked, for when 

 startled by approaching footsteps, it usually retreats at once into the innermost 

 recesses of the nearest cover, skulking behind or under fallen trees, clusters 

 of bushes, projecting roots and loosely piled stones, with all the address and 

 cunning of a mouse. In winter, when the ground is covered with snow, the few 

 birds — and they are very few — • that sometimes remain with us inhabit ever- 

 green woods as a rule, but in January, 1871, I found one in Waltham, that had 

 taken up its abode in an old, disused barn which it entered by means of a con- 

 veniently placed knot-hole and from which it made short excursions in search of 

 food along a neighboring wall. 



I cannot remember ever seeing a Winter Wren in any of the more densely 

 populated parts of Cambridge, but Mr. H. A. Purdie tells me that on October 

 15, 1889, his friend Mr. T. O. Fuller discovered a bird crouching in the shelter 

 of one of the massive granite columns which support the front of the Boston 

 Custom House. Another was observed by Miss Bertha T. Parker in Norton's 

 Woods, on October 17, 1900. 



^No. 113, collection of H. M. Spelman. 



