138 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



have departed for their winter quarters in the Southern States be- 

 fore this time. A few may linger until the first week of November. 

 On November 5, 1941, one was seen and heard singing at Kingston, 

 R. I., and another was observed on November 7, 1938, at Amherst, 

 Mass., a record for the last-seen house wren in that region. Accord- 

 ing to A. H. Howell (1932), the first house wrens reach their haunts 

 in Florida during the last week of September or the first week of 

 October. His earliest two records are of one seen at Oxford on 

 September 26, 1928, and one at Orlando on September 27, 1909. 



Concerning the house wren in its winter haunts Chapman (1912) 

 writes : 



It has been claimed that the name of the House Wren is a misnomer, because 

 in the South during the winter these birds are found in the forests miles away 

 from the nearest liabitation. Tliis, however, is owing to circumstances over 

 which the House Wren has no control. He is just as much of a House Wren 

 in the south as he is in the north; you will find a pair in possession of every 

 suitable dwelling. The difiiculty is that in the winter there are more House 

 Wrens than there are houses, and being of a somewhat irritable disposition, 

 the House Wren will not share his quarters with others of his kind. Late 

 comers, therefore, who can not get a snug nook about a house or outbuilding, 

 are forced to resort to the woods. 



A. H. Howell (1932) writes of the house wren in Florida as follows : 

 "This little wren, well known in the North as a conspicuous inhabitant 

 of orchards and dooryards, loses most of its familiarity while resort- 

 ing in the South, and during the winter months frequents palmetto 

 thickets and brushy tangles in the hammocks. Here the birds are 

 shy and for the most part quiet, but as spring opens one may occasion- 

 ally hear snatches of the bubbling song, which on the breeding grounds 

 is a nearly continuous performance." In Alabama, Howell (1924) 

 states that the house wren "is quiet and rather shy, frequenting low 

 bushes and weed patches in the fields." Of the bird in Louisiana 

 Oberholser (1938) writes: "It frequents much more commonly the 

 forests, thickets, and swamps, where it skulks about among the under- 

 growth, and is sometimes difficult to observe. * * * It is seldom 

 found in flocks, but most of the birds move singly or in pairs." 



Kendeigh ( 1934) concludes in his study of the role of environment 

 in the life of birds that — 



The northward distribution of the eastern house wren during the breeding 

 season appears to be limited primarily by low night temperatures for which 

 the shortening of the daily periods of darkness does not entirely compensate. 

 The southward distribution appears to be primarily controlled by high daily 

 maximum temperatures and competition with the Bewick wren, Thryomanes 6. 

 bewicki (Audubon). The eastward limit of the breeding range is determined 

 by the Atlantic Ocean, while a decrease in relative humidity and precipitation 

 may be directly or indirectly concerned in the westward transition from the 

 eastern to the western subspecies of the house wren. Other factors are of 

 uncertain or secondary importance. 



