422 



AMKRICAX FORI STRY 



barred with black, and brownish gray below. It is smaller 

 than the Carolina wren, which is more rufous and has 

 a light line over its eye; it is larger than the win- 

 ter wren, which is more heavily barred and has much 

 darker underparts, but it is very similar to the Bewick's 

 wren. This bird, however, has a light line over its eye, 

 as has the Carolina wren, and light spots on the corners 



lap except in the .Mleghenies, for the winter wren is a 

 Canadian species, while the Carolina wren is a southern 

 bird occurring only occasionally as far north as New 

 York and New England. In the fall, however, the winter 

 wren migrates southward, some as far as Texas and 

 northern Florida, and at this season all four kinds, as well 

 as the two species of marsh wrens, may he found in the 

 Southern States. 



The luug-billcd marsh zvrcn is the commoner of the 

 two latter, frequenting the cat-tails and sedges of marshes 

 bordering lakes, creeks, or sloughs, where its incessant 

 song is always heard. Even during the hours of 

 darkness, when most birds are quiet, the marshes will 

 often resound with a chorus of marsh wrens. At such 

 times it sounds as if Dame Nature were keeping late 

 hours and had brought out innumerable tiny, ill-working 



THK DUMMY .\EST— .\ PECULIARITY OF THE WRKX 



A dummy nest of a long-billed marsh wren. All of the wrens build duplicate 

 nests — possibly an indication of a former polygamous habit. 



of its tail. So similar are all wrens to one another in 

 size and color that it is much easier to identify them by 

 their songs, which are distinctly different. 



Both the house wren and the Bewick wren are fond 

 of the habitations of mankind and are quick to avail them- 

 selves of nesting boxes put up for them, the house wren 

 from Quebec to Virginia, the Bewick's wren from cen- 

 tral Pennsylvania to South Carolina. They can be at- 

 tracted even to the heart of large cities more success- 

 fully than any other birds because the opening in the nest- 

 ing box need not be larger than an inch in diameter, and 

 this will not admit sparrows or starlings, which, by 

 usurping all available nesting sites, have done so much 

 toward driving the hole-nesting species away from the 

 cities. It is best to place the boxes on poles in the sun 

 or light shade, although the wrens are not so particular 

 in this respect as the other "nesting-box birds," and 

 will take with equal readiness a bo.x on the porch or 

 in the centre of a tree. 



The winter wren and the Carolina wren are both 

 woodland species, bin their breeding ranges do not over- 



EGGS OF THE LOXG-BILLED MARSH WREX 

 A section of a long-billed marsh wrens nest, showing the heavily spotted eggs. 

 Those of the short-billed species are pure white and other species show all grada- 

 tions in between. 



sewing machines. Often the wrens seem to be carried 

 away by the exuberance of their song, and, springing 

 from the Hags, they seem actually to explode upward. 

 With their feathers .shaken out, their short wings vibrat- 

 ing, their cocky tails tilted far forward over their plump 

 little bodies, they look like animated cotton bolls. 



The short-billed marsh wren is much yellower in gen- 

 eral appearance than his dark, long-billed brother, and 

 is seldom found in the deep-water marshes, for it pre- 

 fers the sedgy borders of such or even wet meadows. It 

 is ordinarily very mouse-like in its habits, running about 

 among the tangled sedges, and would seldom be seen were 

 it not for the fact that whenever any one approaches it 

 climbs at once the highest reed in the vicinity to scold him 

 for venturing so far from sidewalks and pavements. Its 

 song is little more than a rei)etition of its call, like the 



