56 THE BIOLOGICAL REVIEW. 



This season, however, I saw one on January 23, 1894, in a 

 woodland dell, which it frequents during the summer, and near 

 where I had found two nests. 



On March 30, I again heard it in the same place, and from 

 that date they became more common. 



Toward the centre of our sugar bush, and not far from the 

 ■"camp fire," the ground is rather low, and here most of the 

 larger timber was uprooted by that terrible windstorm of April 

 20, 1893. Having noticed the Winter Wrens frequently during 

 April, in this bush, I expected that they were going to nest here 

 again, and a search on May 2, was rewarded with the discovery 

 of a nearly completed nest in one of the highest roots. 



I think it was four days later that I again visited it, when it 

 contained four eggs ; on the gth, I flushed the bird from her 

 nest, which I carefully removed from its place in the soil and 

 fine roots, and found the number of eggs to be six, which were 

 apparently pure white, but if held up to a strong light, after 

 being blown, the minute markings, with which the larger part 

 of the surface is dotted, become visible. 



The site of the nest was about six feet above the ground or 

 rather water, which filled the space out of which the root had 

 been torn. 



The nest resembled a round ball of moss, with an entrance 

 hole on the outer side. It measured over twelve inches in 

 •circumference. 



The exterior was almost wholly composed of a species of 

 moss, common on the lower parts of trees and logs in low 

 grounds. Around the entrance are a number of the stalks of 

 hemlock leaves, while the inside is neatly lined with fine 

 vegetable matter, hair and feathers. 



This set was completed on the 8th of May, and is the earliest 

 date I have ever taken their eggs. 



Of the seven nests collected in this vicinity, four contained 

 six eggs each, and three, five; all of these were built in the 

 upturned roots of fallen trees, which is evidently their favorite 

 nesting place, though it certainly builds in other situations. 



Li stow el, Out. Wm, L. Kells. 



