FAMILY Troglodytida*. 



eastern United States as far north as eastern Massachu- 

 setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the I'ali.-adi s of the 

 Hudson, thence south throughout the Gulf States, and 

 west to Iowa and Illinois. It is a common permanent 

 resident of Washington, D. C., and West Virginia, but a 

 rare summer visitant north of these points. It is one of 

 the earlier migrants of spring, and on April 9, 1918, it was 

 reported from the shores of Buzzards Bay, Mass. 



The loud and cheery song of the Carolina Wren is rather 

 extraordinary for so small a bird. It somewhat resembles 

 in its trisyllabic form the song of the Maryland Yellow- 

 throat, but there the similarity ceases for the voice of the 

 W T ren is clear and musical whereas that of the Yellow- 

 throat is almost toneless and certainly lacks melodic dis- 

 tinction. For example, a Maryland Yellow-throat singing 

 in Blair, New Hampshire, July, 1919, gave me a four- 

 syllabled song for many days in succession, which after 

 study and some hesitation I considered not a monotone, 

 thus: 



'; Thrice dva.. 

 y^ minor. 



Getd penny, Getd penny, etc. 



Yet a similarly four-syllabled song in exactly the same 

 locality July, 1908, was certainly composed of three mixed 

 tones, thus: 



Moderate, Thrice 8v*. 



Dont you do'it t dorit you doit, dorityou 



Now that vagueness of tonality, or rather what might be 

 called musical indecision, does not obtain in the song of 

 the Carolina Wren, there is a definite and emphatic swing 

 from one note to another, and the three syllables are given 

 in different tones whether these are in accurate pitch or 

 not. There is no doubt about the burden of this Wren's 

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