SOUTHERN WINTER WREN 161 



TROGLODYTES TROGLODYTES PULLUS Burleigh 



SOUTHERN WINTER WREN 



Thomas D. Burleigh (1935) discovered and named this wren. He 

 says that it is similar to the eastern winter wren, "but decidedly darker 

 and less ruf escent above, the underparts lighter brown, with the ver- 

 miculations of the abdomen and flanks heavier; wing longer; bill 

 smaller and more slender." It breeds, he says, "in the Canadian 

 Zone of the southern Appalachians from we.stern North Carolina 

 (probably Virginia), to northern Georgia, occurring in winter at a 

 lower altitude in this same region." 



"This southern race of the winter wren," continues Burleigh, "can 

 always be easily recognized in either sex by its distinctly darker upper- 

 parts, a characteristic common to other birds limited in their distribu- 

 tion to this general region. Even in worn breeding plumage this 

 character is at once evident." 



The .subspecies description is based on eight North Carolina speci- 

 mens, five from Mount Mitchell, two from the Great Smoky Moun- 

 tains, and one from Kocky Knob. 



TROGLODYTES TROGLODYTES MELIGERUS Oberholser 



ALEUTIAN WREN 



HABITS 



The 1910 Check-list treated the Alaska wren, of the Pribilof Islands, 

 and the Aleutian wren, of the western Aleutian Islands, as two distinct 

 species and listed both as specifically distinct from the winter wrens 

 from other parts of North America. A thorough .study of all the Old 

 World and New World forms of the genus Nannus, by Dr. Harry C. 

 Oberholser (1919), has demonstrated that all the North American 

 forms of this genus are only subspecifically distinct; furthermore, he 

 claims that these, and all the Old World forms as well, are all subspecie^s 

 of the Old World species Nannus troglodytes. The f ramers of our 1931 

 Check-list evidently do not agree with this latter concept, but they do 

 list all the North American forms as subspecies of Nannus hiemalis. 



The Aleutian wren {Troglodytes troglodytes meUgerus), the subject 

 of this sketch, was formerly supposed to inhabit all the western Aleu- 

 tian Islands, from Attn to Kiska; but now Dr. Oberholser (1919) re- 

 stricts this name to the wrens of Attu Island and possibly the neigh- 

 boring Agattu Island; and he names three new races for Tanaga, 

 Kiska, and Unalaska Islands. He says that the Aleutian wren "is 

 one of the most deeply colored of the North American forms and is 

 apparently a well-ditlerentiated race." 



We found wrens of this species on all the islands we visited in the 

 Aleutian Chain, from Unalaska on the eastern end to Attu in the 

 west. It was one of the pleasantest surprises of our trip to find these 



