Mr. Paine discredits the statement that they build their nests in holes in the ground. The egg referred to by Mr. Paine is oval in shape, slightly more pointed at one end, measuring .75 of an inch in length by .53 in breadth. The ground is a dead chalky-white, over which are sprinkled a few very fine dots of a light yellowish-brown, slightly more numerous at the larger end. This egg, while it bears some resemblance to that of the Winter Wren, is totally unlike that of the House Wren. Troglodytes ædon, var. parkmanni, AUD. PARKMAN’S WREN; WESTERN WOOD WREN. _Troglodytes parkmanni_, AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 310.—IB. Synopsis, 1839, 76.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 133, pl. cxxii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 367; Rev. 140.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1860, 191 (nest).—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 23, no. 146.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 71. _Troglodytes sylvestris_, GAMBEL, Pr. A. N. Sc. III, 1846, 113 (California, quotes erroneously AUD. _T. americanus_). HAB. Western and Middle Provinces of United States. East to the Missouri River. Western Arizona, COUES. Although the differences between the eastern and western House Wrens, as stated in the Birds of North America, are not very appreciable, yet a comparison of an extensive series shows that they can hardly be considered as identical. The general color of _parkmanni_ above is paler and grayer, and there is little or none of the rufous of the lower back and rump. The bars on the upper surface are rather more distinct. The under parts are more alike, as, while ædon sometimes has flanks and crissum strongly tinged with rufous, other specimens are as pale as in _T. parkmanni_. Perhaps the most appreciable differences between the two are to be found in the size and proportions of wing and tail. The wing in _parkmanni_ is quite decidedly longer than in _ædon_, measuring, in males, 2.12 to 2.15, instead of 2.00 to 2.05. This is due not so much to a larger size as to a greater development of the primaries. The first quill is equal to or barely more than half the second in _parkmanni_; and the difference between the longest primary and the tenth amounts to .32 of an inch, instead of about .20 in _ædon_, where the first quill is nearly half the length of the third, and much more than half the length of the second. HABITS. This western form, hardly distinguishable from the common House Wren of the Eastern States, if recognized as a distinct species, is its complete analogue in regard to habits, nest, eggs, etc. It was first obtained by Townsend on the Columbia River, and described by Audubon in 1839. It has since been observed in various parts of the country, from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Coast, and from Cape St. Lucas to Oregon.