THRUSH COUSINS 



the other brood, which soon became as lousy as the 

 first had been. 



If you see a wren in midwinter hopping about a 

 brush pile or a stone wall, do not imagine it to be the 

 familiar House Wren. It is the kind known as the 

 Winter W^ren, distinguishable from the other by having 

 upper parts of a brighter, reddish brown. It breeds 

 mostly well to the north, in the dark spruce forests, but 

 Ned and I met two pairs of them in early July in a 

 wild, mountainous part of Connecticut, whither we 

 had gone to explore for Northern birds. How won- 

 derfully these males did sing, a tinkling, bell-like 

 warble, that lasted each time I should think as much 

 as fifteen seconds, one of the longest bird songs I have 

 heard. The larger Carolina Wren is also a famous 

 singer. It rarely reaches New England, but appears in 

 the Middle States, and more abundantly as we proceed 

 southward. 



We have two more wrens, very different in their 

 habits from either of the above — the Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren and the Short-billed Marsh Wren. These also 

 are artful dodgers, but they do their hiding and climb- 

 ing amid the reeds or grass of the marsh or meadow. 

 Though neither of them are as gifted singers as the 

 others, they have pleasing little ditties which add to the 

 attractiveness of their wet surroundings. The Long- 

 billed kind is generally much the more common and 

 conspicuous of the two. One sees them hopping about 

 among the reeds or rushes, tails sticking straight up in 



MO 



