WRENS. 83 



The most royal of the family is the winter wren 

 {Troglodytes hiemalis). He is graceful and vivacious. 

 His plumage is rich and soft, dark brown above and 

 lighter beneath, strongly marked with dusky cross-bars 

 anteriorly, and whitish ones posteriorly, and also a 

 white bar across outer wing primaries. He is pre-emi- 

 nently a bird of the woods. It is as difficult to describe 

 his inimitable and brilliant song as it is that of the 

 bobolink; the notes are so rapid and rippling, accelera- 

 ting and diminishing, all clear and fife-like, and as hquid 

 as the notes of the song sparrow. 



The song commences with a tinkling, wavering 

 prelude, increasing in fervor, half whistle, half warble, 

 interspersed with trills of exquisite sweetness. Bur- 

 roughs says, "The winter wren is a marvelous songster, 

 in speaking of whom it is difficult to avoid superlatives. 

 He possesses the fluency and copiousness for w^hich the 

 wrens are noted, and besides these qualities, and what 

 is rarely found in conjunction with them, a wild, sweet 

 rhythmical cadence that holds you entranced. ■ 



" His strain is rapid and gushing, and touched with a 

 wild sylvan plaintiveness ; his voice fills the dim aisles 

 of the forest as if aided by some marvelous sounding- 

 board. Indeed, the song is very strong for so small a 

 bird, and unites in a remarkable degree brilliancy and 

 plaintiveness. I think of a tremulous vibrating tongue 

 of silver." 



I shall never forget the first time I heard this 

 remarkable singer. I was making my way through an 

 intricate swamp of cedars and hemlocks near Millgrove, 



