WRENS: WESTERN WINTER WREN 
537 
General Habits. —The Western House Wren which, in plumage 
lacks the strong diagnostic ear marks of the other wrens of New Mexico, 
in habits is one of the most wrennish of them all, scolding vociferously 
at an intruder one moment, bubbling over with song by the nest the 
next. 
At Glorieta we found two nests of the jolly, excitable little birds in 
holes in the big cottonwoods on the edge of camp, and they fluttered 
their wings and sang with their characteristic abandon. At the head 
of the Rio Mimbres, they were common about Mr. Bailey’s cabin, as 
all along the valley, among old logs and rocks and brush piles. 
On the Upper Pecos, the Forest Range Rider showed us a nest of 
nearly grown young under the peak of a log cabin, which his children 
had rescued from a snake. When we reached 11,600 feet, at the foot 
of Pecos Baldy, on August 9, the Wrens were still singing; but by the 
middle of September, on the east slope of the Taos Mountains, though 
common along a woodside brook and in the alders of the adjoining 
meadow, the only note heard from them was a low thin chattering 
scold, very different from the effervescent song of spring. The House 
Wren is one of the birds most ready to build in bird boxes, and his 
happy, persistent songs and vivacious ways make him a welcome 
addition to any one’s premises. 
Additional Literature.—Baldwin, S. P., and W. W. Bowen, Auk, 45, 
186-199, 1928.— Kalmbach, E. R., and W. L. McAtee, U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers’ 
Bull. 1456, pp. 10-11, 1926 (bird houses).— Meriuam, F. A., A-Birding on a Bronco, 
20-37, 1896.— Miller, O. T., A Bird-Lover in the West, 24-28, 1894.— Trafton, 
G. II., Methods of Attracting Birds, 14, 15, 45-47, 1910.— Wright, M. O., Edu¬ 
cational Leaflet 39, Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc. 
WESTERN WINTER WREN: Nannus hiemalis pacfficus (Baird) 
Description. — Length: 3.0-4.2 inches, wing 1.8-1.9, tail 1.2-1.3, bill .4, tarsus 
.6-.7. Tail less than three-fourths as long as wing. Adults: Upperparts dark brown, 
brighter on rump and upper tail coverts; wings, tail, and often back and rump nar¬ 
rowly barred with blackish; line over eye, throat and breast tawny; belly and under tail 
coverts barred; flanks darker. Young: Breast mottled or margined with dusky, 
flanks barred. 
Range. —Breeds from Prince William Sound, Alaska, western Alberta, and north¬ 
western Montana south to northern Colorado and south-central California (especially 
in humid coast belt); winters in British Columbia and south to southern California 
and southern New Mexico. (Recorded from Arizona in spring.) 
State Records. —Early in September, 1902, Hollister was in the Sacramento 
Mountains and saw the Western Winter Wren on the Mescalero Indian Reservation 
at 8,500 feet. Barrel 1 reports seeing one at Cooney, December 26, 1889. These 
are the only reported records for New Mexico.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In coniferous forest, in crevices of dead logs or stumps, in bunches of 
green moss, or in upturned roots of trees; made of green moss, twigs, bark, and 
leaves; lined with feathers and sometimes rabbit hair and fur. Eggs: 4 to 8, white 
or creamy, finely but sparingly spotted with reddish brown. 
