Tli()(JL()DYTll).K-TIlK WKENS. I4.3 



Thryothorus bewickii, vai bewickii, \V)s\i\ 



BEWICK'8 WBEV; LOVO-TAILEO HOUSE WBEH. 



TrnffloiliihsfH-irH-;;^ Ai i». Om. Vao**. I, is:n, !»6, i»l, xviii. - In. Birds Am. II, 1S41, \10, 

 1>1. ixviii, Thriintlinnis hiirickil, Wss.w. List, l^:i^i. - H.viKi*, Uinls N. Am. IH.'i.S, 

 36:J. T'/i,i, If, „/,/(,.•, /„iri,ln, (AI!. Mus. Htiu. 1, ISiiO, 78. Thrijothorm hetrUkii^ vur. 

 heirickU, U.VIUU, Uev. Am. I'.. 1804, 12«>. 



Sp. riiAH. Altovr (lark nituus-l»r<)\vn : iiiiiip ami mi<Ml<' tail-t«'atlu'r.«j sorni'timos a littlo 

 iialcr, ami vrrv sliirlitlv tin</«'«l with "-rav, ami tct'TtluT with the «'.\iM»st»(l .-.iniiuM <»f sec- 

 omlaiics <listinctly l>arivii witli <lii>kv. Bem-ath soiletl jihmilM'ou.s-whitish ; Hanks Itrowii. 

 Ciissuni liaml(Ml; ^'louml-color (»!' <|nills ami tail-t'eatliers hrowiiish-hlaok. Len^'tli, iViO; 

 wiujr, 2.2'): tail. '1'*^). Lemrth liom nostril, ;j!»; al<>ii<r gape, 7<>. 



Hab. Eastern I'roviticf of ruift-d States. 



Habits, Tliis interest intr .si»ei it-s uf Wren wits first met with l»v Aiulubon 

 ill Ujuisianii. A nunil»er of individuals were observed at the time, hut notli- 

 iiijj of its history was known for several years afterward. In shai)e, eolor, 

 and hahits it most resemhle«l the Carolina Wren, hut wa.s le.s.s rapid in move- 

 ment, and not s«> lively. Fourteen years later I)r. Hachman a^ain met with 

 hirds of this species, in is;)."*, at the Salt Sul]>hur Sprin«i;s of Virginia. They 

 eomj)ri.sed a family of two }>arents ami five young, nearly full gi'own. Their 

 notes were like th<»se of the Winter Wren, neither louder nor more conneeted. 

 They seemed of restless hal»it, creeping actively among fence.s, stumps, and 

 logs. One ascended an oak, nearly to the to]), in the manner of a Creeper. 

 This species proved to he (piite common in that locality, and to be the 

 only Wren abundant among the mountains. Dr. (libbs detected it near 

 Columl)ia, i C, and Dr. Trudeau afterwards found it quite common in 

 L(juisiana. 



It w^as first <»bserved breeding by l*rofessor I5aird in Carlisle, Penn., 

 in 1844. In all respects the nests and their location corresiwnded with 

 those of the common Wren. I>r. Woodhouse found it very abundant in the 

 Indian Tenitory, and descrilK's its habits as similar to those of other Wrens. 

 Lieutenant Couch observed this Wren at Santa llosalio in Mexico, earlv in 

 ^larch. It was seeking its food among the low prickly-pears. He w^as 

 informed that they deposited their eggs wherever they couhl do so without 

 making much of a nest, inside the cal)ins under the rafters, but in Xew 

 Leon he found one of its nests quite elaborately constructed in a thatched 

 i-oof. He describes the song as quite varied, and one of the sweetest that 

 he heard in that country. 



The late IJr. Gerhardt of ^'arnel^s Station, Ga., met with this species 

 among the mountaiuotis ])ortions of Northern Georgia, where it generally 

 nested in holes in stumps. In one instance the nest was constructed five 

 inches in length, and four in diameter, with a cavity two inches in depth, and 



the w^alls of great proportionate thickness, made externally of coarse roots, 



19 



