NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 405 



lining is of chicken feathers, fine, dry grasses and horse hair. The 

 bird is not particular as to the situation of its nest. It is found in holes 

 of trees, in wood-piles, and in low bushes ; sometimes in the nook or 

 corner of a barn ; occasionally in a box, placed in the verandas of dwell- 

 ings in retired places ; often under an accumulation of brush-wood. 

 Sometimes the nests are arched over or dome-shaped, the opening being 

 only large enough to admit the bird. 



The number of eggs laid ranges from four to six, and the average 

 size of twenty specimens is .74x.6i ; a common size is .72X.56. The 

 ground-color of the eggs varies from a whitish to creamy-white or 

 salmon-buff; this is thickly sprinkled with a brownish-pink, and so 

 heavily laid on in some specimens that the surface has this same ap- 

 pearance. Some, however, are marked more heavily at the larger end. 

 T. /. miamensis Ridgw. is found in Southeastern Florida. 



719. Thryothorus bewickii (AUD.) [61.] 



Bewick's Wren. 



Hab. Eastern United States, rare or local east of the Alleghanies and north of 40: west to the 

 border of the Great Plains. Winters in the more Southern States. 



Bewick's or the Long-tailed House Wren is a common species in 

 Eastern United States, particularly southerly ; breeding from latitude 

 40 southward. In some places in the interior it replaces the common 

 House Wren. It is not common on the Atlantic coast. 



Nests of this bird are placed anywhere in boxes, holes, fence- 

 posts, brush-heaps, stumps, hollow trees, barns, sheds, etc. Dr. Howard 

 E. Jones, who obtained the first specimens of nests and eggs of this 

 species ever taken in Ohio, has the following in his text of the mag- 

 nificent work, " Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of the Birds of 

 Ohio": " The nest and eggs of Bewick's Wren resemble very closely 

 some specimens of the House Wren's in size and shape, and, except in 

 size, approach even closer to those of the Great Carolina Wren. The 

 nest alone would be difficult to distinguish from uncovered nests of 

 T. cedon, but the eggs are not nearly so thickly marked. Normal spec- 

 imens of each can be always differentiated. The House Wren, how- 

 ever, sometimes lays eggs very similar to typical eggs of Bewick's 

 Wren. 



" The complement of eggs varies from four to six or seven. They 

 measure in long diameter from .60 to .68, and in short diameter from 

 .48 to .54. A common size is .49 x . 64. They are spotted and speckled 

 with reddish-brown, sparingly about the point, but plentiful toward the 

 crown, where the marks are often confluent, forming a wreath. The 

 deep shell-marks are purplish." 



