THE PRAIRIE WARBLER. 551 



THE CAROLINA WREN. 



In tangled thickets, made almost impenetrable by the 

 rank festoons of the common smilax, I occasionally found 

 the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus). This rather 

 southern species, though wintering commonly in Virginia, 

 scarcely reaches, regularly, a higher latitude than 42. Some 

 o.7o long, it is noticeably larger than the rest of our Wrens, 

 which it resembles strongly in color, however, the most 

 differentiating mark, in this respect, being the yellowish- 

 white eye-brow extending down the sides of the neck.* 

 The bill is considerably curved. In the extent and manner 

 of its activity this species is every whit a Wren. All ob- 

 servers have been impressed with its song, which is loud, 

 voluble, melodious, and delivered at about all times of the 

 year. The nest, generally in some cavity, often in build- 

 ings, is a hollow ball, with an entrance in the side, composed 

 outwardly of sticks, leaves, and coarse fibers generally, and 

 lined with fine fibrous or grassy materials. The 6 eggs, .77 

 X .58, are creamy-white, variously marked with reddish- 

 brown and lilac, in a wreath or cluster at the large end. 



THE PRAIRIE WARBLER, 



In the pine groves of second growth I occasionally found 

 the Prairie Wabler (.Dcndrceca discolor). This pretty little 

 species, only 4.50 long, is olive above, the back being marked 

 with reddish-chestnut spots; sides of the head, yellow, with 

 lores and a streak beneath the eye, black; throat and under 

 parts rich yellow, with small pointed spots of black down 

 the sides of the neck and under the wings. The female 

 lacks the black line under the eye, and has the chestnut 

 spots on the back, and the black spots on the sides, less dis- 

 tinct. Breeding anywhere from New England to Key West, 

 it occupies the bushy pastures in the former limit of its 



* Florida affords a larger and darker form of this species, var. miamensis. 



