TROGLODYTID.E — THE WRENS. 



149 



h. Aiiorthnra. 

 Tail very short ; only aliout two thirds tlio wing. 

 T. byemalis. 



a. Size of wdoii e.\c«pt for shorter tail, wiiijj ahont 2.00 ; culnien vory 

 straight. Hub. Aleutian Islands ...... \ai\ {ildsnenxis, 



h. Much smaller than asdon, wing about 1.75. 



Pale redilish-brown ; dusky bars of upper part.s with whitish spots or in- 

 terspace.?. Httb. Eastern Province United States ; Cordova? vnv. hy emaHs . 



Dark rufous above and below ; upper parts with few or almost no 

 whitish spot.s. Hab. Pacilic Province North America. var. jia r i/lc ii s. 



Troglodytes aedon, Vieill. 



HOUSE WREN; WOOD WBEN. 



TroylmhiliS mdon, ViEiLL. Uis. Am. 8fpt. 11, 1S07, 52, pi. cvii. — Ib. Nouv. Diet. XXXIV, 

 1S19, 306. — Baii:d, Birds N. Am. 1S5S, 366 ; Kev. 138. — Sci.atek, (Jatal. 1S61, 22, 

 no. 145. — Mayxarii, B. E. Mass. H ijlcmathrous cedon. Cab. Jour. 1S60, 407. Syleia 

 domestim, Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 180S, 129, pi. vii. Troylodytcs fulvus, Nutt. Man. 

 I, 1832, 422. ? Troylodytcs umcriaiinis. Arc, Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 452 ; V, 1839, 469, 

 pi. clx.\ix. — lis. Birds Am. II, 1841, 123, pi. cxi.x. — Baikd, Birds N. Am. 1858, 368 ; 

 Rev. I, 111. 



Other figures : At'D. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, \i\. Ixxxiii. — Ib. Birds Am. II, 1841, pi. e.xx. 



Sp. CiiAU. Tail and wings about ecpial. Bill shorter than the head. Above reddi.>ih- 

 brown, darker towards the head, brighter on I he rump. The feathers everywhere, except 

 on the head and neck, barred with dusky ; oliscurely so on the back, and still less on the 

 rump. All the tail-feathers barred from the base ; the contrast more vivid on the exterior 

 one. Beneatli pale fulvous-white, tinged with light browni.sh across the breast ; the po.s- 

 terior parts rather dark brown, obscurely banded. Under tail-coverts whitish, with dusky 

 bars. An indistinct line over the eye, eyelids, and loral region, whitish. Cheeks brown, 

 streaked %vith whitish. Length, 4.90 ; wing, 2.08 ; tail, 2.00. 



Hab. Eastern Province of the United States, from Atlantic to the Missouri River. 



In the Re\-iew ol' American BirJ.s (]i. 139), T have established a variety, 

 azfecns, to embrace specimens fmni Mexico paler than a-don, and with a 

 brownish tinge on tlie breast, and smaller size. 



Tiiere can scarcely be any doubt that the T. americaims of Audubon is 

 nothing more than this species in dark, accidentally soiled plumage (from 

 charcoal of burnt trees, etc.). 



Hahits. The common House Wren is found 

 throughout the United States, from the Atlantic 

 to the Eocky ^fountains, though it is not every- 

 where equally abundant. Thus, while in some 

 parts of Massachusetts it occurs in consider- 

 able numbers every year, in other portions not 

 twenty miles distant it is never seen. West of 

 tiie liocky jMountains it is replaced by Park- 

 man's Wren, whicii is rather a race tlian a dis- 



Tfo^loriytr.\ anion 



