SPECIES 6. SYLVIA TROGLODYTES?* 



WINTER WREN. 



[Plate VIII. Fig. 6.] 



Motacilla troglodytes? LINN. PEALE'S Museum, JVo. 7284. 



THIS little stranger visits us from the north in the month of 

 October, sometimes remaining with us all the winter, and is al- 

 ways observed early in spring on his rout back to his breeding 

 place. In size, colour, song and manners he approaches nearer 

 to the European Wren (M. troglodytes), than any other species 

 we have. During his residence here, he frequents the projecting 

 banks of creeks, old roots, decayed logs, small bushes and rush- 

 es near watery places; he even approaches the farm-house, ramb- 

 les about the wood-pile, creeping among the interstices like a 

 mouse. With tail erect, which is his constant habit, mounted 

 on some projecting point or pinnacle, he sings with great ani- 

 mation. Even in the yards, gardens and outhouses of the city, 

 he appears familiar, and quite at home. In short, he possesses 

 almost all the habits of the European species. He is, however, 

 migratory, which may be owing to the superior coldness of our 

 continent. Never having met with the nest and eggs, I am un- 

 able to say how nearly they approximate to those of the former. 



I can find no precise description of this bird, as an American 

 species, in any European publication. Even some of our own 

 naturalists seem to have confounded it with another very differ- 

 ent bird, the Marsh WrenJ which arrives in Pennsylvania from 



* Wilson appears to be correct in considering this species the same as the 

 European. The following synonymes may be given : Motacilla troglodytes, 

 LINK. Syst. Ed. 10, i, 188. GMBL. Syst. i, 993. Sylvia troglodytes, LATH. Ind. 

 Orn. u, p. 547. Le Roitelet, BUFF. Pi En. 651, fig. 2. 



f See Professor Barton's observations on this subject, under the article 

 Jtiotacilla troglodytes? " Fragments," &fc. p. 18, Ib. p, 12. 



