THE WINTER WREN. 197 



in the centre, and lined with fine grasses, feathers, wool, and 

 other soft materials. The eggs are usually six in number, 

 sometimes eight, and I have known as many as ten being 

 found ia one nest : their color is a pale-reddish flesh-color, 

 covered with fine dots or sprinkling of a darker color. 

 Dimensions vary from .62 by .50 to .59 by .48 inch. Occa- 

 sionally, two broods are reared in the season ; but, as a 

 general thing, one brood only. The wrens are extremely 

 beneficial in the garden and orchard : they destroy immense 

 numbers of insects and their larvae, and are, in consequence 

 of their sociable habits and pleasant dispositions, great favor- 

 ites. It is hardly necessary to say a good word in their 

 favor, as they are well appreciated and protected. 



As with many other birds, this species, although very 

 generally distributed, is not, by any means, regularly spread 

 through these States. It may be quite abundant in one 

 town ; and in another, perhaps five miles off, not an indi- 

 vidual is to be seen. In Cambridge, Mass.,' it is one of the 

 most abundant of birds ; but, in Newton or Dorchester, it is 

 comparatively rare. I cannot account for this irregularity, 

 and have never heard a plausible or satisfactory reason for 

 it given. Some species of insects, which are favorites with 

 it for food, may possibly be found .less abundantly in some 

 localities than in others ; but I am unable to say if this is 

 the case, since I do not know of any particular insect which 

 this bird prefers. Numbers that I have examined, con- 

 tained in their stomachs spiders in abundance ; but what 

 species they were, or what were their peculiar localities, I 

 am ignorant. 



TROGLODYTES HYEMALIS. VieiUot. 

 The Winter Wren. 



Sylvia troglodytes, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (1808) 139. 



Troglodytes hyemalis, VieiUot. Nouv. Diet., XXXIV. (1819) 514. Aud. Orn. 

 Biog., IV. (1838) 430. 



Troglodytes Europceus, Bonaparte. Obs. Wils. (1825), No. 137. Nutt. Man., I. 

 1832) 427. 



