CAROLINA WREN 209 



Phimagcs.— Soon after hatching the young wrens are scantily dec- 

 orated with slate-colored down; the juvenal plumage develops rapidly 

 and they are well clothed by the time they leave the nest. In the 

 juvenal plumage young birds look much like the adults, but they are 

 paler in color and the plumage is softer in texture ; the wing coverts 

 are tipped with buffy white, the superciliary stripe is less clearly 

 white, the underparts are whiter, and there is some dusky barring or 

 mottling on the flanks and sides of the head. 



The first winter plumage is acquired by a partial postjuvenal molt 

 in August and September, involving the contour plumage, the wing 

 coverts, and the tail, but not the rest of the wings. This plumage 

 is darker and richer in color than the juvenal plumage, chestnut or 

 Vandyke brown above and deep cinnamon below, with white tips on 

 the wing coverts and a whiter superciliary stripe, young and old be- 

 coming practically indistinguishable. 



Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in August and September ; 

 after this molt, in fresh fall plumage, all the colors are brighter and 

 richer than in the worn and faded plumage seen in spring. The sexes 

 are alike in all plumages. 



Food. — In his study of the food of the Carolina wren, Professor Beal 

 (Beal, McAtee, and Kalmbach, 1916) examined 291 stomachs, repre- 

 senting every month. The contents were found to consist of 94.18 

 percent animal matter, nearly all insects, and 5.82 percent vegetable 

 matter, chiefly seeds. Of the animal food, beetles made up 13.64 per- 

 cent, all injurious except 1.71 percent of predatory ground beetles; 

 among the beetles found were several species of weevils, including the 

 cottonboll weevil, 31 individuals being found in 18 stomachs; other 

 beetles were the two cucumber beetles, the bean leaf beetle, and numer- 

 ous flea beetles. Of the Hymenoptera, ants amounted to 4.63 percent 

 and bees and wasps to about the same. Hemiptera — stink bugs, soldier 

 bugs, leaf -legged bugs, leafhoppers, and chinch bugs — made up 18.91 

 percent, one of the largest items. Scale insects destructive to oranges 

 were found in one stomach. The largest item of all proved to be 

 caterpillars and a few moths, 21.73 percent. Orthoptera, including 

 grasshoppers, crickets, and cockroaches and their eggs, made up 12.57 

 percent of the food. Flies are evidently not popular, as the average 

 for the year was only a little over 3 percent ; daddy-longlegs and crane- 

 flies were the most popular. On the other hand, spiders seem to be 

 very attractive; they were eaten in every month, and from April to 

 August to the extent of 16.67 percent, and the average for the year 

 was 10.54 percent; spiders must be easily obtained in the many nooks 

 and crannies that the Carolina wren explores. Other small items of 

 animal food included millipeds, sowbugs, and snails, "Vertebrate 

 animals would hardly be expected to form part of the diet of so small 

 a bird, but the Carolina wren eats them often. Kemains of lizards 



