PASSERES CERTHID.E TROGLODYTES. 53 



GENUS TROGLODYTES. Vieillot. Cuvier. 



Bill usually long, slender, sharp, compressed, without notch, or at least only a slight vestige. 

 Nostrils oval, oblong, obvious, half closed by a membrane. Tongue slender, ending at 

 the tip in two or three small rigid bristles. Tarsus longer than the middle toe, with eight 

 anterior distinct scutellae. Inner toe free ; posterior with a larger nail than the rest. Wings 

 short, rounded, concave, with a spurious feather : third, fourth and fifth quills longest. Fe- 

 male and male differ little in plumage. Tail usually erected. Live exclusively on insects. 



Obs. This genus has been separated into two by modern systematists : In Troglodytes, 

 the bill is slender from the base, the spurious feather moderate, and the hind toe equal to the 

 inner ; in Thryothorus, the bill is rather thick at the base, the spurious feather long and 

 broad, and the hind toe longer than the inner. The genus, as it now stands, is very natural, 

 does not comprise many species, and the distinctions do not appear of sufficient magnitude to 

 require the introduction of a new genus. 



THE HOUSE WREN. 



Troglodytes jEdon. 



plate xliii. fig. 97. 



(STATE COLLECTION. Male and female.) 



Troglodytes ccdon. Vieillot, pi. 107. 



Sylvia domestica. Wilson, Am. Om. Vol. 1, p. 129, pi. 8, fig. 3. 



T. aedon ct furvus. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. Vol. 2, p. 92 and 439. 



House Wren. Audubon, folio, pi. 83 (male, female and young) ; Orn. Biog. Vol. 4, p. 409. Nuttall, Man. 

 Orn. Vol. 1, p. 423, figure. Richardson, Northern Zoology, Vol. 2, p. 316. Auddbon, Birds 

 of Am. Vol. 2, p. 125, pi. 120. Giradd, Birds of Long island; p. 73. 



Characteristics. Dark brown, banded with blackish ; beneath dull greyish, with obsolete 

 bands. Tail rather long and rounded. Length, 4^ inches. 



Description. Bill, measured along the upper surface, half an inch long, without the 

 slightest appearance of a notch. Nostrils with a membrane above. Tail wedge-shaped, 

 arched. 



Color. Above deep brown, darkest on the head and neck, and lighter on the rump. All 

 the feathers, except those of the head and neck, barred with dusky. Beneath, soiled white 

 on the belly and vent ; darker above, obscurely barred with dusky. Wings and tail strongly 

 barred. Lower mandible flesh-colored. 



Length, 4 "5. . 



