WRENS 585 



Subfamily TROGLODYTIN^. Wrens. 



Genus THRYOTHORUS Vieillot. 



Subgenus THRYOTHORUS. 



718. Thryothorus ludovicianus (Lath.). Carolina Wren; 

 Mocking Wren. 



Plumage of adults : chestnut or rufous brown above, the wings and tail 

 finely barred with black ; wing coverts with lighter terminal spots ; whitish 

 line over eye ; below deep cinnamon, whiter on throat ; flanks with a few 

 black bars. Immatxure plumage : very similar. Wing 2.34 ; tail 2.05 ; cul- 

 men 0.64. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States, breeding from the Gulf States to 

 southern Iowa, northern Illinois and southern Connecticut, and occasionally 

 straggling even into Maine ; resident in the southern portions of its range. 



County Records. — Kennebec; a specimen taken at Waterville is in the 

 collection of birds made by Prof. Chas. Hamlin at Colby University. Oxford ; 

 I have in my collection a set of eggs of this species taken at Norway Lake 

 in June, 1893, and I saw both birds, (Nash;. 



This species is of course a straggler into Maine, being rare, 

 even in southern New England. I have seen the set of eggs 

 in Mr. Nash's collection and there is not the slightest doubt 

 in my mind that they are eggs of the Carolina Wren. Indeed 

 it is not really any stranger that the Carolina Wren should be 

 found breeding at Norway Lake than it is to find the Short- 

 billed Marsh Wren at Bangor and not elsewhere in the State. 

 The Carolina Wren as a living bird I have never met. Other 

 observers state that in the south it is distinctly a bird of the 

 forests, frequenting bushy heaps, rocky places in the woods, 

 fallen tree tops, and similar thick rough tangles. All Wrens 

 are nervous, excitable and full of activity, but Mr. Chapman 

 records the fact that this species is the most active and excit- 

 able of all, dodging about, now here, now there, scarcely still 

 for a minute, and accompanying this bodily exertion by more 

 or less constant song. 



The nests are said to be placed in hollow logs and stumps, 

 wood piles, brush heaps, and very seldom in nooks of build- 

 ings. A nest sent me from Avery's Island, Louisiana, was 



