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Bewick's Wren — Part 1
Adult--Upper parts dark cinnamon brown; feathers of the rump with concealed downy white spots; primaries not barred; central tail-feathers barred; outer ones black, tipped with grayish; a white line over the eye; under parts grayish-white; flanks brownish. Length--5.00 (Chapman).
Breeding Range--From latitude forty degrees southward; "rare east of the Alleghanies."
The nest, like that of the house wren, is placed in houses, holes in stumps or trees, brush heaps, etc. The eggs, varying of a tree, in brush heaps, or in deserted buildings, is of "small twigs, with moss and leaves interwoven, and warmly lined with feathers of hawks, crows, grouse, or any that are at hand" (Davie). 4 to 7 eggs are laid, varying from pure white with reddish brown and purple spots to creamy white with but few specks of reddish brown. Size--.69 x .49.
Though something like the house wren in appearance, the habits of the Winter Wren are very different; instead of nesting near the habitations of man, they usually select places away from human beings. In the autumn they may be seen hopping about from stone to stone or in the tangle alongside a broken-down wall in the vicinity of small rapid-running brooks, generally solitary, two being rarely seen together.
The breeding season begins about the last week in May.