WINTER WREN. 27 1 



and Gray, so that it must retire to the Western or mountainous 

 soUtudes to pass the period of incubation. Mr. Townsend 

 obtained specimens of this bird in the forests of the Colum- 

 bia. During its residence in the Middle States it frequents 

 the broken banks of rivulets, old roots, and decayed logs near 

 watery places in quest of its insect food. As in Europe, it also 

 approaches the farm-house, examines the wood-pile, erecting 

 its tail, and creeping into the interstices like a mouse. It 

 frequently mounts on some projecting object and sings with 

 great animation. In the gardens and outhouses of the city it 

 appears equally familiar as the more common House Wren. 



The Wren has a pleasing warble, and much louder than 

 might be expected from its diminutive size. Its song likewise 

 continues more or less throughout the year, — even during the 

 prevalence of a snowstorm it has been heard as cheerful as 

 ever ; it likewise continues its note till very late in the evening, 

 though not after dark. 



This species is common throughout the Eastern States, breeding 

 in northern New England and north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 and westward through northern Ohio and Ontario to Manitoba. 

 During the summer it occurs also, sparingly, on the Berkshire Hills 

 in Massachusetts, and along the crests of the Alleghanies to North 

 Carolina. It winters from about 40° southward. 



Had Nuttall ever met with the Winter Wren in its summer 

 haunts ; had he heard its wild melody break the stillness of the 

 bird's forest home, or known of the power controlled by that tiny 

 throstle and of its capacity for brilliant execution ; had he but once 

 listened to its sweet and impassioned tones, and the suggestive 

 joyousness of its rapid trills; had Nuttall, in short, ever heard 

 the bird sing, — he could not, surely, have damned it with such 

 faint praise. 



The song of this Wren is not well known, for the bird seldom 

 sings beyond the nesting period, and then is rarely heard away 

 from the woodland groves. But once heard, the song is not soon 

 forgotten ; it is so wild and sweet a lay, and is flung upon the 

 woodland quiet with such energy, such hilarious abandon, that it 

 commands attention. Its merits entitle it to rank among the best 

 of our sylvan melodies. 



