Chap. 3. 



BIRDS OF VERMONT. 



85 



THE WOOD WREN. 



GENUS SIALIA. 



THE BLUE BIRD. 



wintr-coverts ; the primaries are crossed 

 by alternate rows of cream color ; throat, 

 line over the eye, sides of the neck and 

 breast dirty white, with minute transverse 

 touches of drab ; belly and vent mottled 

 with sooty black, deep brown, and white, 

 in bars ; tail very short ; legs and feet 

 pale clay-color; bill straight, half an inch 

 loner, dark brown above, whitish beneath ; 

 iris hazel. Length 3^, spread 5. — JViitt. 



History. — Tliis sjirightly and musical 

 little bird bears a very strong resemblance 

 to the preceding, and might easily be mis- 

 taken for it. It may, however, be distin- 

 guished by its shorter tail, more slender 

 bill, and l)y having the under parts more 

 distinctly barred. The nest of this wren 

 is built upon, or very near the ground, at 

 the foot of a tree, or by the side of a rock. 

 It is formed of moss and leaves, and lined 

 with liair, and has its entrance on the 

 side. This bird is said to lay from 10 to 

 18 eggs, but the nests, discovered by Au- 

 dubon, contained no more than 6. Their 

 color is licrht blue, spotted with reddish 

 brown. The song of this wren is very 

 agreeable and loud for the size of the bird. 



THE WOOD WREN. 



Traglodijt.es americanus. — Aud. 



Description. — Bill of moderate length, 

 nearly straight, slender, acute; neck short; 

 body rather full ; plumage soft, blended, 

 slightly glossed; wings short, broad; 

 4th and 5th quills longest ; tail rather long, 

 graduated ; general color above dark red- 

 dish brown, duller and tinged with gray 

 on the head, indistinctly barred with dark 

 brown ; wings and tail waved with dark 

 brown, edges of the outer primaries light- 

 er; under parts pale brownish gray, bar- 

 red more or less distinctly. Length 4|, 

 spread 64-. — Aud. 



History. — This new species was dis- 

 covered by Audubon in the summer of 

 1832, in the state of Maine, where it 

 breeds in hollow logs in the woods, sel- 

 dom if ever making its appearance in 

 cleared land. The color of the egg of the 

 Wood Wren is dull yellowish white, with 

 blotches and streaks of purplish-red and 

 blackish-brown. This wren breeds in 

 Vermont, and Audubon describes an eag 

 procured in this state by Dr. Brewer. 

 Late in the fall of 1840, I saw a pair of 

 these wrens in a little wood in Burling- 

 ton, and watched them for some time. 

 They were silent except alow chirp occa- 

 sionally, and were intently and diligently 

 searching for spiders and insects upon the 

 sides and beneath the logs. 



Genus Sialia. — Sivainson. 

 Generic Characters. — Bill of ordinary 

 lengih. nt-arly struii^ht, about as broad as liiijli at 

 lliebase; up[)L'r mandible rounded carinaled to- 

 wards the base, notched and curved at tlio tip ; 

 tonoue cartilai^iiious, shortly lacerate at the base, 

 and einarainate at the point ; nostrils basal, open, 

 partly obstructed by an internal tubercle, the nasal 

 fosse extensive and defiressed ; tarsus rather ro- 

 bust, a little shoiter than the middle toe ; inner 

 toe free ; the hind one stoutest, longer than the 

 nail ; uings rather lonw and acute ; lit and 2d 

 primaries longest, the 3d scarcely shorter. 



> 



::S«. 



THE BLUE BIRD. 

 Sialia Wilsonii. — S w a i n s o n . 



Description. — Color sky-blue above ; 

 ferruo-inous, passing into brownish white, 

 beneath ; vent white ; wings full and 

 broad ; inner vanes of the quills and their 

 shafts dusky, outer vanes blue ; bill and 

 legs black ; inside of the mouth yellow- 

 Colors of the female duller than in the 

 male. Length 6i, spread 11 J. 



History — This well known and fa- 

 miliar bird is found in all parts of the 

 United States and of the British North 

 American provinces. It is every where 

 a trreat favorite, and its return in the 

 spring is hailed with hardly less joy than 

 that of the Robin. It seems to delight in 

 beino- around our dwellings, and rears its 

 younor in hollow stumps and posts and in 

 little boxes made for that purpose and 

 placed on upright poles. The nest con- 

 sists of a slight lining of the cavity with 

 a few straws and feathers. The eggs are 

 usually .5, of a pale blue color and with- 

 out spots. Tiiey often raise two or three 

 broods in a season. Their food consists 

 almost entirely of insects, such as beetles. 

 s[)iders and grasshojipers, and, on account 

 of their destruction of these, they are, 

 like most others, real benefactors of the 

 farmer, and richly deserve his protection. 

 Birds seem to be speciall)' designed by 

 Providence to prevent the undue increase 

 of noxious insects, and so useful are they 

 that, in general, whoever destroys a bird, 

 destroys°a friend. Blue Birds are very 

 common in all parts of Vermont, and their 



