WRENS 



191 



in outbuildings. The only nest with eggs taken 

 in Massachusetts that is now on exhibition in 

 any museum is in the collection of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. Its history as told 

 by its discoverer is this : He hung for safe keep- 

 ing high under the ridgepole inside the barn a 

 grape basket containing some sticks of dynamite. 

 A few weeks later when he went to get it the 

 Wren had built her nest in the basket, deposited 

 her eggs and was incubating. The dynamite was 

 removed with great care and replaced with paper, 

 but the bird refused to be comforted and de- 

 serted the nest. Edw.4.kd Howe Forbusii. 



The Carolina \Wen has to its credit an ap- 

 parent disposition to destroy the dreaded boll 

 weevil whose working on cotton-bolls has been 

 a most serious matter in several Southern States. 

 The ^^'rens live in Texas and Louisiana through- 

 out the year, and frequent thickets and clearings 

 littered with fallen timber. In these sur- 

 roundings they capture the weevils during their 

 period of hibernation, and it is apparent that thcv 

 also take them in the Spanish moss during the 

 same period. 



The Florida \\'ren ( Thryothorus Uidovicianus 

 niianiciisis) is larger than the Carolina Wren 

 and its coloration is darker and richer; the upper 

 parts are rich chestnut to dark chestnut, the 

 stripe over the eye is decidedly bufify. the under 

 parts ( except the chin and upper throat ) are 



deep clay color or tawny yellow, the flanks 

 tinged with chestnut and ( sometimes the sides 

 also) barred with chestnut or dusky. It is found 

 only in the pem'nsula of Florifla. south of the 

 .Suwanee River. 



lj> J b ^rmfitld C")UrtL 



NEST OF A CAROLINA WREN 

 In an old wash-basin 



BEWICK'S WREN 

 Thryomanes bewicki bewicki {Audubon) 



A. O. U. Number 719 



Other Names. — Long-tailed House Wren ; Song 

 Wren. 



General Description. — Length, 5'j inches. L'pper 

 parts, brown ; under parts, grayish-white. Bill, shorter 

 than head, slender : wings, short and rounded ; tail, 

 about length of wing, rounded, the feathers broadly 

 rounded at the tip. 



Color. — Crozi'it, hindncch, back, shoulders and 

 smaUcr n'ing-covcrts. plain brozvn, the rump, more 

 chestnut-brown ; secondaries and greater wing-coverts, 

 brown, the former distinctly, the latter indistinctly, 

 barred with dusky ; primaries dusky, their outer webs 

 edged and spotted with pale brownish ; upper fail- 

 coverts and middle tail-feathers, brownish-gray, the 

 latter distinctly, the former indistinctly, barred with 

 dusky; a conspicuous and sharply defined stripe of 

 white or buffy-white extending over the eyes to the 

 back of the head, the front portion narrower and usu- 

 ally, more grayish ; a broad brown stripe behind the eye 

 \oi.. 111.— 14 



occupying upper half ( appro.ximately) of ear region; 

 under parts, dull (7rayisli-Z!.'hitc or very pale gray, 

 becoming more decidedly white on abdomen, the sides 

 and flanks tin.ged with brown ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs.— Nest : Located like the House 

 Wren, almost anywhere, in outbuildings, boxes, stumps, 

 watering pots, or any hollow objects, hung in trees or 

 lying on ground, constructed of materials similar to 

 those used by the House Wren. Eggs : 4 to 7. dull 

 white speckled with chestnut, more profusely around 

 large end where often forming a wreath. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States ; breeds from 

 southeastern Nebraska, northern Illinois, southern 

 Michigan, and south-central Pennsylvania south to 

 central Arkansas, northern Mississippi, central Ala- 

 bama, and along the Alleghenian hi.ghways to northern 

 South Carolina ; winters from near the northern limit 

 of its range southward to the Gulf coast and Florida: 

 accidental in Ontario and New Hampshire. 



