PASSERES — CERTHID^ — TROGLODYTES. 55 



THE MOCKING WREN. 



Troglodytes ludovicianus. 



plate xlii. fig. 94. 



(STATE COLLECTION. Male and female.) 



Sylvia ludoviciana. Latham, Index Oraith. sp. 150. 

 Certhia caroliniana. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 61, pi. 12, fig. 5. 

 T. ( Tkryothorus) ludovicianus. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 93. 

 The Grreat Carolina Wren. Audubon, folio, pi. 78; Orn. Biog. Vol. 1, p. 399. 

 Mocking Wren. Ndttall, Manual Ornith. Vol.1, p. 429, figure. 



Great Carolina Wren. Acdub'on, Birds of Am. Vol. 2, p. 116, pi. 117 (male and female). Gieaud, Birds of 

 Long island, p. 75. 



Characteristics. Chesnut brown above. Wings and tail barred witli brown ; the coverts 

 slightly tipped with white. Beneath rusty; vent light colored, barred. 

 Throat, and stripe over the eye, whitish. Female, no white on the 

 wing-coverts. Length, 5 -6 inches. 



Description. Bill stout, curved, and three-quarters of an inch long. Tail rounded, 

 wedge-shaped ; the two exterior feathers on each side being half an inch shorter. Wings 

 short and broad. Nostrils oval, partly covered by a prominent convex membrane. 



Color. A broad well defined streak of soiled white passes from the base of the bill, over 

 the eye, and down the sides of the neck ; beneath this, a stripe of reddish brown passes from 

 the eye backward, to mix with the general color of the body above. Chin lightly tinged with 

 rust. Throat and sides of the neck greyish white. Quills, coverts and tail barred with 

 blackish brown. 



Length, 5-5-6-0. 



This large Wren, which in the southern and western parts of the Union is celebrated for 

 his mimicry and powers of song, is but a rare visitor in this State, or at least has been 

 rarely observed. I suspect that it even occasionally breeds here; for I have had specimens 

 from Westchester and Rockland counties, which were taken as late as the middle of Decem- 

 ber. Its eggs are from 5-8, greyish, spotted with brown. It is a resident in the Southern 

 States during the whole year, and ranges from Texas to New- York. 



