Nest of the Winter Wren. 



BY WILLIAM L. KELLS, ONTARIO. CANADA. 



This species (AnorChiira troglodytes hyemalis) 

 s pretty evenly distributed iu most of the 

 woodlands of Central Ontario, at least I have 

 heard its thrilling song notes in the deep woods 



: all the localities where I have resided, or 

 visited in the summer season, except on the 

 shore of Lake Huron. It is among the earliest 

 of our feathered exiles to return to its native 

 haunts when the rigor of winter is over, and 

 the more gentle spring is about to open over 

 the fields and the remnant of our forest lands. 

 Always at the opening of the second week of 

 April — let the weather be stormy and cold, or 

 calm and sunny — and though the snow and ice 

 may still be deep and frozen in the woods, the 

 interested observer of nature is sure to hear 

 the cheery song of this active little wild-wood 

 wanderer, coming from out the remains of some 

 gloomly lowland wood where it makes its sum- 

 mer home. On the 0th of April of the present 

 year, though the ground was frozen hard as 

 rock, the snow still deep in the woods, and the 

 wind from the north was bitterly cold; yet, 

 being out at the back woods on my farm — Wild 

 Wood — 1 was much pleased to hear the glad- 

 1 some lay of this species, in the same wilds 



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OROTTHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 12-m. 11 



where in preceding years it lent a charm to the 

 otherwise gloomy scene. For, to my mind, the 

 song notes of but few of oui' birds has moi'e 

 melody than that of the Winter Wren, and to 

 seek its nesting place and secure some sets of 

 its eggs has occupied the leisure hours of many 

 a spring and summer day; and to attempt to 

 describe some of the haunts of this bird, and 

 the hardships met with, especially after the 

 mosquitoes have developed from their watery 

 cradle, would, I think, discourage most of our 

 closet naturalists, yet in all my hunts and ram- 

 bles, from our early settlement in the back- 

 woods, only three nests of this species — con- 

 taining eggs — have come within my observation. 

 Many an old or newly composed nest have I 

 seen, but from the fact that the species builds 

 a number of false nests, and at once forsakes 

 one that is touched by the human hand, certain 

 it is that many a time when I have revisited a 

 nesting place, in the hope of securing the eggs, 

 have I returned disappointed. 



In the early part of May, 1887, in company 

 with one of my youngest children, I took a 

 ramble to a piece of woods about a mile and a 

 half south of this town, wliere I have hunted 

 in the early season for some years past, and 

 every part of which is well known to me. In 

 the centre of this wood is a tract of low swamp 

 which I knew to be the sununer habitat of one or 

 two pairs of Winter Wrens, and where I had 

 seen several nests, but failed to procure any 

 eggs. On this occasion I was pleased to note 

 the recent arrival of some of our most pleas- 

 ing woodland songsters, otherwise we had 

 nearly completed the circuit of the wood witli- 

 out observing anything else worthy of note, ex- 

 cept gathering some beautiful wild flowers, 

 when 1 noticed that a good sized maple tree 

 had lately fallen near our path, and that in 

 its fall it had drawn up with its roots a large 

 piece of earth, which hanging downwards 

 formed a kind of tent or wigwam, and that near 

 by a Winter Wren was charmingly singing. 

 Conjecturing that this might be a nesting place 

 of this species I drew near to investigate. I 

 found in the hut a kind of door, into which I 

 stooped down in order to see within, and there 

 just before in the side of the wall I was pleased , 

 to discover the newly formed nest of the Win- i 

 ter Wren. Owing to its form and position and | 

 the small entrance, it was of course impossible 

 to see the bottom of the inside of this struc- 

 ture ; but wai-ned by past experience I did not 

 dare to intrude a finger, but I rightly judged 

 that it was yet too early in the season for, eggs 

 to be deposited, and a close view of the nest 



showed that it was being lined in the inside 

 with small feathers. I therefore calculated 

 that in about ten days the nest would be fin- 

 ished and the set of eggs deposited. Accord- 

 ingly I returned on the 18th, and as I stooped 

 into the cave and no bird flushed out, I began 

 to fear that I was again to be disappointed, but 

 cautiously inserting a finger into the door of the 

 nest I was pleased to find that it contained a 

 number of eggs, one of which I took out, and 

 thought that it looked fresh, then I feared that 

 the set was not completed, but I concluded to 

 take them i-ather than run the risk of not get- 

 ting any, as the bird discovering that the nest 

 had been disturbed might destroy the eggs, or 

 some other species of collector might take 

 them before I returned again; and it was well 

 that I did so, for on preparing them I found 

 that they had been several days undergoing the 

 process of incubation. This nest, which I 

 carefully removed, was in form much like that 

 of a mouse, with a small entrance in the side 

 facing outward, and was composed of a species 

 of greenish-yellow moss that grows on the 

 bark of maple and elm trees, in damp woods. 

 On the outward side, in order to make it more 

 firm, especially around the entrance, the little 

 architect had intermingled with the soft moss 

 several bits of small bramble and stalks of 

 dead leaves. The inside, as well as I could see, 

 was neatly lined with the fine feathers of hawks, 

 crows and grouse. The set of eggs was five in 

 number. These were of a clear white hue, 

 dotted, especially towai'ds the larger end, with 

 small spots of a reddish color. In form, size 

 and coloration they, can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from those of the Chickadee and 

 Brown Creeper. 



g.&O.XI.I.N07.l887 P. /W-Z^V 



