40 AVIFAUNA COLUMBIANA. 



specimen is now in the United States National Museum, No. 8G218, as 

 noted by Mr. Ridgway in the Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, vii, 1882, p. 

 253. [71] 



22. (105.) Troglodytes domesticus (Bartr.) Cones. (T. aedon of the original edi- 



tion.) House Wren. 

 A very abundant summer resident, arriving April 15, leaving October 

 20. It breeds in holes anywhere about dwelling-houses, and in the 

 heart of the city as often as elsewhere, any garden-patch or bit of shrub- 

 bery sufficing to tempt the familiar little creature to a summer resi- 

 dence. Formerly very common in the city. Now rarely seen. [74] 



23. (10G.) Anorthura troglodytes hiemalis ( Wils.) Cones. Winter Wren. 

 Winter resident j rather uncommon. Arrives first week in October, 



about the time the Snow-birds come, or a few days earlier, and remains 



Fin. 8.— Winter Wren. 



until the latter part of April. It frequents thick briar patches in dark 

 woods, the rocks and gullies about ravines, and along the banks of 

 creeks, where it threads its way like a mouse and is not easy to find. 

 It is uncommon enough to be something of a prize to the collector, and 

 we have never heard its song, as it leaves before the sexual impulse 

 stimulates it to music. [7G] 



24. (104.) Telmatodytes palustris {Bartr.) Cab. Long-billed Marsh Wren. 



A summer resident. Arrives the third week in April, and remains 

 until early iu October. This Wren is, extremely abundant, but only in 

 certain localities, chiefly the marshes bordering the Potomac and Ana- 

 costia, where the stretches of wild oats {Zizania aquatica) furnish a con- 

 genial home. Hundreds of the large globular nests, affixed to the 

 swaying reeds, used to be found in the bit of marsh bordering the Lee 

 estate, and thence toward the Virginia end of Long Bridge. The eggs 

 are remarkably dark- colored, being so heavily marked with chocolate- 

 brown as to be almost uniformly of that color. [79] 



The Short-billed Marsh Wren, Ctstothorus stellaris, though we have 

 not been able to detect it, is doubtless to be found sparingly here, the 

 District being entirely within its ordinary known range. We do not 

 know, however, that it has ever been actually taken or seen here. 



