190 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Color. — Above, plain rusty-brown (nearly prouts- 

 brown to chestnut-brown), duller on crown (especially 

 on forehead), brighter (light chestnut or rufous-chest- 

 nut) on rump and upper tail-coverts; rump with con- 

 cealed roundish spots of white, the feathers dark slate 

 color or blackish-slate basally ; wings and tail, duller 

 brown than back, narrowly (sometimes indistinctly) 

 barred with dusky, the exterior tail-feathers and pri- 

 maries with interspaces between dusky bars much 

 paler (pale buffy or dull whitish, at least in part) ; 

 middle wing-coverts and some of greater coverts, 

 usually with a small triangular terminal spot of white 

 or pale buffy, margined (except at the ends) with 

 dusky ; over the eye a sharply defined and conspicuous 

 stripe of white or buffy-white, bordered above by a 

 narrow black line along the side margin of crown and 

 neck; a broad stripe of rufous-brown back of the eye 

 and occupying upper half (approximately) of ear 

 region, continued (sometimes brokenly) across side of 

 neck ; the space under the eye and the lower portion of 

 ear region, dull white, buffy-white, or pale buff, the 

 feathers narrowly edged or margined with dusky, pro- 



ducing streaked or scale-like efifect ; cheeks, chin, and 

 upper throat, plain dull white; rest of under parts, 

 plain dull buffy-white tinged with buff on chest, sides, 

 flanks, and anal region, or distinctly buff, deepest on 

 flanks; under tail-coverts, buffy-whitish or pale buff 

 broadly barred with black; flanks (occasionally sides 

 also) very rarely barred with dusky-brown; bill, horn 

 color ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Placed in brush heaps, 

 holes in logs or rocks, in low bushes, or outbuildings ; a 

 large, rough structure of coarse grass, corn leaves, hay, 

 leaves, corn silk, lined with horse-hair, feathers and 

 fine grasses. Eggs : From 4 to 6, varying from white 

 to pinkish-buff, so thickly sprinkled with brownish-pink 

 as to obscure the ground color in some cases. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States ; breeds from 

 southeastern Nebraska, southern Iowa, Ohio, southern 

 Pennsylvania, and lower Hudson and Connecticut val- 

 leys south to central Texas (western Texas in winter), 

 Gulf States, and northern Florida; casual north to 

 Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Massachusetts, New 

 Hampshire, and Maine. 



The folk-lore and tradition of the Old World 

 marks the Wren as a tiny bird ; American litera- 

 ture follows suit. Darius Green characterizes 

 the family in these immortal words, " the little 



Courtesy of Am. Mus. Xat. Hist. 

 CAROLINA WREN (I nat. size I 

 It sings nearly the whole year round 



chatterin' sassy wren, no bigger'n my thumb." 

 but the Carolina Wren certainly is not tiny. In 

 fact it is so large that early American ornitholo- 

 gists referred to it as the Great Carolina Wren, 

 with the accent on the Great. 



Notwithstanding its size it possesses in full the 

 activity, nervousness, excitability, volubility, and 

 curiosity attributed to W'rens from time imme- 

 morial. It seems full of song, sings nearly the 



whole year round, and its voice like that of other 

 Wrens is loud, clear, strong and sweet, but its 

 song does not express the bubbling, outpouring, 

 irrepressible ecstasy that characterizes those of 

 the House Wren and Winter Wren. One of its 

 common phrases is very well expressed by the 

 words tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle. It has 

 been called the Mocking Wren because some of 

 its notes resemble those of other birds, particu- 

 larly the whistling call of the Tufted Titmouse 

 and a song of the Cardinal. Its notes are varied 

 but probably it hardly deserves the name of an 

 imitator. 



It is not naturally as domestic as the House 

 AN'ren, being more inclined to the neighborhood 

 of woods and swampy thickets than to that of 

 huirian habitations. If stared at it is likely to 

 grow nervous and to betake itself quickly to 

 cover, for it usually has a safe harbor under its 

 lee. It is fond of high, thick shrubbery, but can 

 hide readily in old stumps, under logs or in very 

 low-growing vegetation to which it flies when 

 no other cover is near. 



Its abundant energy is expressed by both voice 

 and tail and the latter is used freely for gesticu- 

 lation. 



Although this \\'ren is a cave dweller and 

 nests normally in the hollows of trees or in other 

 natural cavities in the wilderness, it seems more 

 and more to acquire confidence in mankind and 

 quite often builds in some nook in an outbuilding 

 or even in a bird house or nesting box put up 

 for more domestic birds. Rather recently two 

 nests have been found in grape baskets hung up 



