GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 205 



ing is frequently heard in gardens soon after daybreak, and along the 

 borders of the great rivers of the Southern States, not far from the sea- 

 coast. 



The Great Wren of Carolina is five inches and a quarter long, and 

 seven broad ; the whole upper parts are reddish brown, the wings and 

 tail being barred with black ; a streak of yellowish white runs from the 

 nostril over the eye, down the side of the neck, nearly to the back ; 

 below that a streak of reddish brown extends from the posterior part of 

 the eye to the shoulder ; the chin is yellowish white ; the breast, sides 

 and belly a light rust color, or reddish buff; vent feathers white, neatly 

 barred with black ; in the female plain ; wing coverts minutely tipped 

 with white ; legs and feet flesh colored, and very strong ; bill three- 

 quarters of an inch long, strong, a little bent, grooved and pointed, the 

 upper mandible bluish black, lower light blue ; nostrils oval, partly 

 covered with a prominent convex membrane ; tongue pointed and slen- 

 der ; eyes hazel ; tail cuneiform, the two exterior feathers on each side 

 three quarters of an inch shorter, whitish on their exterior edges, and 

 touched with deeper black ; the same may be said of the three outer 

 primaries. The female wants the white on the wing coverts ; but differs 

 little in color from the male. 



In this species I have observed a circumstance common to the House 

 and Winter Wren, but which is not found in the Marsh Wren ; the 

 feathers of the lower part of the back, when parted by the hand, or 

 breath, appear spotted with white, being at bottom deep ash, reddish 

 brown at the surface, and each feather with a spot of white between 

 these two colors. This, however, cannot be perceived without parting 

 the feathers. 



