3 J 4 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Habits. The same as those of C. aquaticus. 



Nest. Like that of C. aquaticus. 



Eggs. Not distinguishable from those of C. aquaticus. 



THE WRENS. FAMILY TROGLODYTID^:. 



This family includes a number of small species of birds 

 largely represented in the New World, and distributed exten- 

 sively over the Palaearctic Region and the Himalayan system 

 of the Indian Region. They have been placed by some 

 ornithologists with the Creepers, which they resemble in the 

 colour of their eggs and also in the fact of the absence of 

 rictal bristles at the base of the bill. They have stout legs 

 and a very rounded Timeliine wing, concave and fitting close 

 to the body. 



THE TRUE WRENS. GENUS ANORTHURA. 



Anorthura, Rennie, ed. Mont. Orn.Dict., 2nded., p. 570(1831). 



Type, A. troglodytes (Linn.). 



THE WREN. ANORTHURA TROGLODYTES. 



Motadlla troglodytes, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 337 (1766). 



Anorthura troglodytes, Macg., Br. B., iii.. p. 15 (1840); Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus., vi., p. 269 (1881). 



Troglodytes parvulus, Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 460 (1873); 

 Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 219, pi. 124 (1873); B. O. U. 

 List Br. B., p. 29 (1883); Seeb., Hist. Br. B., i., p. 505 

 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. iv. (1887); Saunders, 

 Man., p. 107 (1889); Wyatt, Br. B., pi. iii, fig. i 

 (1894). 



(Plate XXVII.} 



Adult Male. General colour above dark brown, becoming 

 more rufous towards the lower back and rump, and dull 

 chestnut on the upper tail-coverts ; lesser and median wing- 

 coverts dusky brown, with tiny whitish spots at the end of 

 the latter; greater-coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and 

 quills dusky brown, externally dull chestnut, barred with 

 blackish, the primaries chequered with whitish interspaces, 

 and the innermost secondaries barred across with blackish 



