BEWICK'S WREN 179 



Plumages. — I have seen no very young nestlings. Ridgway (1904) 

 describes the plumages as follows: The young in juvenal plumage 

 are "similar to adults, but ground color of middle rectrices brown, 

 like back, etc., feathers of chest (sometimes throat also) more or less 

 <listinctly margined or edged with grayish or dusky, and under tail- 

 coverts more brownish and less distinctly barred." Young birds, 

 showing the postjuvenal molt, are scarce in collections, but apparently 

 this molt occurs in August or September, involving the contour 

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

 This produces a first winter plumage that is practically indistinguish- 

 able from the winter plumage of the adult. Ridgway (1904) says 

 that winter adults, at least in fresh plumage, are "more brightly 

 colored, the upper parts more chestnut-brown," than in spring birds, 

 "middle rectrices browner (broccoli brown to light bistre), sides and 

 flanks more strongly tinged with brown, the under tail-coverts with 

 ground color brownish white or pale buffy brown." Wear and fading 

 produce somewhat duller colors before spring. Adults apparently 

 have a complete postnuptial molt in August and September. 



Food. — No comprehensive study of the food of the eastern Bewick's 

 wren seems to have been made, but it probably does not differ widely 

 from that of the California races. It is undoubtedly an insectivorous 

 bird, as are all the wrens. It has been credited with eating boll 

 weevils in the South and locusts in Nebraska. 



Behavior. — Bewick's wren is a gentle, confiding bird, rather courting 

 than avoiding human society, being a familiar dooryard bird through- 

 out most of its range. What has been said about its haunts and nest- 

 ing habits illustrates this point. Mr. Brewster (1886) writes of its 

 actions : "This species resembles other Wrens (especially T. ludovici- 

 anus) in habits and motions, creeping and hopping about under eaves 

 of buildings, and along fences, entering every hole and crevice, and 

 appearing and disappearing like a mouse. Its slender shape and long 

 tail give it, however, a somewhat peculiar appearance — much like that 

 of the Polioptilae. The tail is habitually carried above the line of the 

 back, although its position and inclination are constantly changing. 

 It is not moved in the usual jerky Wren-fashion, but rather slowly and 

 deliberately. In a breezy situation it often seems quite beyond the 

 bird's control, waving about with every passing puff of air." 



Ridgway (1889) says that, as the bird hops about, its long tail is 

 "carried erect or even leaning forward, and jerked to one side at short 

 intervals. In its movements it is altogether more deliberate than 

 either T. ludovicianus or T. aedon^ but nothing can excel it in quickness 

 when it is pursued." 



Voice. — Bewick's wren is a fine singer. Mr. Brewster (1886) says 

 that "the song is sweet and exquisitely tender — one of the sweetest and 



