156 SYLVIIN^E. ANORTHURA. 



GENUS L. ANORTHURA. WREN. 



If we shorten the tail of a Calamoherpe and turn it up a 

 little, we shall have something like a Wren. In our species, 

 the bill is also more slender than in Calamoherpe, and some- 

 what arched, but in several American birds of this group, it 

 is much stouter. Probably the Wrens ought to form a family 

 apart ; but I prefer attaching our only species to the Sylvii- 

 nae. They might perhaps with equal propriety be referred 

 to the Creepers, Reptatrices. 



Bill of moderate length, slender, tapering, acute, slightly 

 arched, subtrigonal at the base, compressed toward the end ; 

 upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge 

 narrow, the notches wanting ; lower mandible with the edges 

 inflected, the dorsal line straight ; gape-line very slightly 

 arched. Tongue sagittate, very slender, tapering, concave 

 above, slightly jagged toward the tip ; oesophagus of mode- 

 rate width, uniform ; stomach roundish, very muscular, with 

 dense, longitudinally rugous epithelium ; intestine short and 

 rather wide ; coeca very small. Nostrils linear-oblong, oper- 

 culate. Eyes of moderate size. Aperture of ear large, 

 roundish. Head of moderate size, ovate ; neck short ; body 

 ovate. Feet of ordinary length ; tarsus compressed, with 

 seven anterior scutella, of which the upper are indistinct ; 

 toes rather large, compressed ; first longer than the two late- 

 ral, of which the inner is a little shorter, the third and fourth 

 coherent at the base ; claws long, arched, extremely com- 

 pressed, laterally grooved, acute. Plumage soft and blended ; 

 no bristles ; wing shortish, broad, concave, much rounded ; 

 the first quill short, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth nearly 

 equal and longest ; tail short or moderate, rounded, generally 

 raised. 



The Wrens, of which only one species occurs in Britain, 

 are remarkable for their abbreviated form, and the elevated 

 direction of the tail. They construct a very bulky nest, of 

 an oblong or spherical form, and lined with moss and fea- 

 thers. The eggs are numerous, generally white, more or 

 less dotted or spotted. 



92. ANORTHURA TROGLODYTES. EUROPEAN WREN. 

 Upper parts reddish-brown, lower light greyish-brown ; a 



