A. TROGLODYTES HIEMALIS : WINTER WREN. 



97 



WINTER WREN. 



AnORTHURA TROGLODYTES HIEMALIS ( V.) CoUCS. 



Chars. Deep brown, darkest on head, brightest on rump and tail, 

 obscurely waved with dusky, and sometimes with whitish also ; 

 tail like rump ; wings dusky, edged with color of back, and dark- 

 barred ; several of the outer primaries also whitish-l:)arred ; a 

 supraciliary line, and obscure streaks on sides of head and neck, 

 whitish. Below, pale brown ; belly, flanks, and under tail-coverts, 

 strongly barred with dusky and whitish. Length, 4.00-4.15 ; ex- 

 tent, 6.00-6.50 ; wing, 1.65-1.75 ; tail, 1.25; bill, 0.40-0.50; tar- 

 sus, 0.72. 



A species characteristic of the Canadian Fauna, 

 which limits its normal southward distribution in the 

 breeding sea- 

 son ; it is hence 

 a summer resi- 

 dent in north- 

 ern New Eng- 

 land. Massa- 

 chusetts is ap- 

 parently an 

 intermediate 

 tract throufjh 

 which it mi- 

 grates in spring and fall ; and where, so far as I 

 know, it does not summer, and but rarely winters. 

 In Connecticut, however, it is a rather common winter 

 resident. While the general habits of the bird are 

 much like those of the House Wren, the pleasing song 

 it utters during the breeding season is entirely differ- 

 ent, and the nidification is not the same. The Winter 

 Wren is a shyer and more retiring bird, and compara- 

 7 



Fig. 2.3. —Winter Wren. (Nearly natural size.) 



