THE WINTER WREN. 197 



in the centre, and lined witli fine grasses, feathers, wool, and 

 other soft materials. The eggs are usually six in number, 

 sometimes eight, and I have known as many as ten being 

 found in one nest : tlicir color is a pale-reddish flesh-color, 

 covered with fine dots or sprinkling of a darker color. 

 Dimensions vary from .62 by .50 to .59 by .48 inch. Occa- 

 sionally, two broods are reared in the season ; but, as a 

 general thing, one brood only. The wrens are extremely 

 beneficial in the garden and orchard : they destroy immense 

 numbers of insects and their larv^, and are, in consequence 

 of their sociable habits and pleasant dispositions, great favor- 

 ites. It is hardly necessary to say a good word in their 

 favor, as they are well appreciated and protected. 



As with many other birds, this species, although very 

 generally distributed^ is not, by any means, regularly spread 

 through these States. It may be quite abundant in one 

 town ; and in another, perhaps five miles off, not an indi- 

 vidual is to be seen. In Cambridge, Mass., it is one of the 

 most abundant of birds ; but, in Newton or Dorchester, it is 

 comparatively rare. I cannot account for this irregularity, 

 and liave never heard a plausible or satisfactory reason for 

 it given, i Some species of insects, which are favorites with 

 it for food, may possibly be found less abundantly in some 

 localities than in others ; but I am unable to say if this is 

 the case, since I do not know of any particular insect which 

 this bird prefers. Numbers that I have examined, con- 

 tained in their stomachs spiders in abundance ; but what 

 species they were, or what were their peculiar localities, I 

 am ignorant. 



TROGLODYTES HTEMALIS. — Tidlht. 

 The Winter Wren. 



Sylvia troglodytes, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (1808) 139. 



Troglodytes hyemalis, Vieillot. Nouv. Diet., XXXIV. (1819) 514. Aud. Om. 

 Biog., IV. (1838) 430. 



Troglodytes Europ<Bus, 'Ron&'^aitQ. Obs. Wils. (1825), No. 137. Nutt. Man., I. 

 1832) 427. 



