492 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



movement east coast (Spurn to northern isles) third week March 

 to mid-May very probably includes birds of both races. 



Family TROGLODYTID^. 



Small and middle sized birds with short tails, short but well 

 developed 1st primary. Legs and feet strong, claws large, bill 

 narrow, elongated, nostrils free of feathers, just distal to prolonged 

 frontal feathering a short membrane. Rictal bristles wanting 

 or weak and few. Wings short and rounded, plumage thick and 

 soft. Rectrices soft, number variable. Sexes as a rule not different . 

 Nests large, ball-like or filling out cavities, with lateral entrance. 

 Eggs of all Pala^arctic forms white, with or without reddish spots. 

 About 20 genera, most numerous in Neotropical region, wanting 

 in Australian and Pacific regions. 



Key to genera of family TRoaLODYTiDiE. 



Smaller, wings under 70 mm., tail and wings barred : Troglodytes, p. 492 

 Larger, wings over 80 mm., tail and wings not barred : Cinclus, p. 497 



Genus TROGLODYTES Vieill. 



Troglodytes Vieillot, Hist. Nat. Ois. Amer. Sept., it, p. 52 (" 1807 " — 

 Type by subsequent designation by Baird, Pacific Rail Road Rep., ix, p. 367, 

 1858: T.aedon). 



In view of intergradation from short -tailed and short -billed 

 European Wrens to long-billed and long-tailed American forms 

 there can be no advantage in separating them into several genera. 

 We therefore continue to call the European Wrens Troglodytes. 

 They are strikingly different from all other European birds by 

 their small size, short tail, and barred plumage combined. Tail- 

 feathers 12, soft and narrow. Claws strong, curved, hind -toe 

 large. Wings short and rounded. Bill slightly curved, without 

 notch. Nostrils oval, partly covered by membrane. Tarsus in 

 front with distinctly separated large scutes. Juveniles very much 

 like adults. A number of species in North America, one in a great 

 number of subspecies in Europe, north to Iceland, in north-west 

 Africa, and in Asia to farthest east from Commander Islands and 

 eastern Siberia to China and Formosa. 



TROGLODYTES TROGLODYTES 



201. Troglodytes troglodytes troglodytes (L.) — THE WREN. 



MoTACiLLA Troglodytes Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 188 (1758 — 

 Europe. Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Troglodytes parvidiis K. L. Koch, Yarrell, i, p. 460 (part) ; Saunders, 

 p. 115 (part). 



