ll-_' 



VERTEBRATA. 



clu'riv-troc; or fiviiiitMitly in small Uoxi's, fixi-d on the top of a pole in or near the garden, to 

 which latter he is extremely partial, for the great number of caterpillars and other larvae with 

 wliieh it constantly supplies him. If all these conveniences are wanting, he will put up with an 

 old hat nailed on the weather-boards, with a small hole for entrance ; and, if even this be denied 

 him, he will find some liolc, corner, or crevice about the house, barn, or stable, rather than aban- 

 don the dwellings of num. Wilson tells us that in the month of June a mower hung up his coat 

 under n shed, near a barn ; two or three days elapsed before he had occasion to put it on again; 

 thrusting his arm up the sleeve, he found it completely filled with some rubbish, as he expressed 

 it, and, on extracting the whole mass, found it to be the nest of a wren completely finished, and 

 lined with a lar<rc q\iantity of feathers. In his retreat he was followed by the little forlorn pro- 

 prietors, who scolded him with great vehemence for thus ruining the whole economy of their 

 household affairs. The eggs are six or seven, and sometimes even more, of a red-purplish flesh- 

 color, innumerable fine grains of that tint being thickly sprinkled over the whole egg. They 

 generally raise two broods in a season. This species has a very merry, rollicking song, and dis- 

 plavs o-reat antipathy to cats, especially those which venture near their nests. They arc exceed- 

 intrlv useful to man, on account of the immense number of insects which they destroy. 



Other American species are the Great 

 Carolina Mocking-Wren, T. Ludovicia- 

 nus, five and a half inches long ; noted for 

 its extraordinary musical powers, displayed 

 in imitating various other feathered song- 

 sters, and found from New York to Florida ; 

 the Wood Wren, T.Americanus, resembling 

 the house wren, and found from Maine to 

 Carolina; the Common Winter Wren, T. 

 kyetnalis, closely resembling the European 

 wren, and once erroneously supposed to be 

 identical with it ; Bewick's AVren, T. Be- 

 wickii, five inches long, and found in Louisi- 

 ana; the Rocky Mountain Wren, T.obso- 

 lehis, found on the Arkansas River; the 

 Marsh Wren, T. 2Mlnstris, four and a half 

 inches long, and found in the Middle States 

 in summer; the Short-billed Marsh 

 Wren, T. brevh-ostris, found in summer 

 from Massachusetts to the Southern States; 

 the White-throated Wren, T. Mexicamis, 

 a Mexican species, five and a half inches 

 long, and recently observed in California; 

 and Parkman's W^ren, T. Parhnanii, found 

 on the Columbia River. Of all these species 

 the House Wren is the only one that seeks 

 familiarity with man. 

 Genus STIPITURE : Stijriture — This includes, among nearly a dozen other closely-allied 

 Australian birds, the Emu Wren, S. malachurus, called Waw-gul-jeUy by the natives of New 

 South Whales, where it is found. It haunts marshy districts, is shy and recluse, has short wings 

 ill adapted for flight, runs very fast, is very active, often carrying its tail erect and sometimes re- 

 troverting it in a ludicrous manner. The body of this bird is about two and a half inches, and the 

 tail three times as long. This consists of six spreading feathers, the barbs of which are of a loose 

 structure, like the feathers of the emu, whence the popular name of the bird. The nest is ball- 

 shaped, and is placed in a tuft of grass ; the eggs are usually three. 



^• 



THE EMU WREN. 



