-NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



475 



7220. WESTERIT WINTER WREN. Troglodytes Jiiemalts pacifieus Baird. 

 Geog. Dist.— Pacific coast regioa 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. hiemalis of the East. Eggs .60x.48. 



723. ALASKAN WREN. Troglodytes alascensis 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 iTroglo- 

 dytes parvnlvB 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, inte:"" 

 •woven with fine roots, and lined heavily with hair and 

 feathers. Conspicuous among the latter are tie rosy- 

 tipped feathers of the Leucosticte griseinucha. 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. George 

 Island, by Mr. W. J. Mclntyre, to whom it was brought T23. Alaskan WEEN><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. Oistothorus stellaris (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 

 ShorVhilled Marsh Wren is a summer 

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

 elsewhere, it is not so abundant as the 

 liong-billed species. The nest cor- 

 •esponds to that of the Long-billed, but 

 no mud is used in its construction. It 

 is built in the midst of a tussock of 

 ^arse, 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 

 rtrong, wiry grass of the tussock is also m. Short-billed Maesh Ween and Nest (Cheney del.; 



