168 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Ampliipods, 24.1 percent; two-winged flies (partly Borboridae), 24.1 percent; 

 beetles (including ground and rove beetles), 14.3 percent; bugs (Hemiptera), 

 13.2 percent ; caterpillars, 12.9 percent ; and Hymenoptera, 11.4 percent. 



A recently examined stomacli contained the following items: Six beetles of 

 the sexton-beetle family (Lyrosoina opaca) , 12 percent; rove beetles (Olophrum 

 ftiscum and 2 Liparoccplialus hrevipennis) , 3 percent; three small parasitic 

 wasps (including Phygadeuon sp. and Plesignathus sp.), 1 percent; remains of 

 dung flies {Scatophaga sp.) and perhaps other flies, 74 percent; one mite of an 

 undescribed genus of the family Gamasidae, trace; and amphipod remains, 10 

 percent. 



Another stomach, lately examined, taken October 29, 1914, contained remains 

 of 24 or more rove beetles ( Staphylinidae) , 70 percent ; 4 beach beetles (Aegialites 

 deUlis), 19 percent; 1 other beetle, 1 percent; and a few files, 10 percent. 



Behavior. — The behavior of the birds during the breeding season 

 has been described by Dr. Heath above. Mr. Elliott's notes, quoted 

 by Dr. Coues (1875) , say that "the male is very gay during the period 

 of mating and incubation, flying incessantly from plant to plant or 

 rock to rock, singing a rather shrill and very loud song, and making, 

 for a small bird, a great noise." 



Winter. — The destruction of these wrens by gyrfalcons in winter 

 has been referred to above. Mr. Elliott told Dr. Nelson (1887) that 

 "during exceptionally severe winters on the island of St. George, 

 large numbers of these birds die of exposure, so that only the hardiest 

 among them survive. But the rapidity with which they multiply 

 brings their numbers up to the former standard in a very few seasons." 



TROGLODYTES TROGLODYTES TANAGENSIS (Oberholser) 



TANAGA WREN 



HABITS 



Dr. Oberholser (1919) has given the above name to the wrens of 

 Tanaga, Adak, and Atka Islands in the Aleutian Chain. The sub- 

 species description is based on nine specimens, collected on the above 

 islands, mostly by the members of our expedition in 1911. He says that 

 it is similar to the Kiska bird, "but wing somewhat longer; upper parts 

 more rufescent and rather lighter, especially on the lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts; posterior lower parts on the average less 

 heavily barred, and with the bars less blackish ; the entire under sur- 

 face averaging lighter and somewhat more ochraceous." He says that 

 it is nearest to the bird of the Pribilof Islands, "but its bill is much 

 longer and its upper parts lighter." 



On Atka Island we found the birds in a sheltered, grassy hollow with 

 a few rocks scattered through it, and in rocky ravines and gulches, 

 where it was in full song. On Adak Island they were on the rocky 

 shores of the Bay of Waterfalls. They doubtless occur in both types of 

 habitat on all of these islands. Their habits are evidently the same 

 as those of the other island subspecies. 



