48 CLASS AVES. 



It nestles in holes of walls, but in inhamted places, which 

 it constantly frequents. It places its nest on the beams of the 

 scaffolding of houses, and, more usually, in the apertures 

 which they leave in the walls. M. Azara discovered a nest of 

 one of these birds on the ground, in the cranium of a dead 

 cow, and another under a roof. It is composed of feathers, 

 and blades of straw, and furnished internally with abundance 

 of horsehair. The eggs are four, red at the gross end, and 

 speckled in the remainder, with the same colour, on a white 

 ground. 



We insert a figure of a wren from a specimen in the Langs- 

 dorf Collection, drawn by Major Hamilton Smith, which 

 though it appears to have some affinity to the Great Carolina 

 Wren of the American Ornithology, the Barred-tailed Wren 

 of Latham, may nevertheless be distinct. 



The bill is very long, and nearly straight and slight ; the 

 top of the head, neck, small wing coverts, and upper half of 

 the back, are of a dirty brown colour ; the larger wing coverts 

 tail, and lower part of the back, reddish brown, or brick-dust 

 colour ; the forehead and vent are ashy, but a white streak 

 passes from the anterior corner of the eye over it, and is con- 

 tinued to the bottom of the side of the neck ; the throat is 

 white, the breast is light yellow, and the belly reddish brown ; 

 the large wing coverts and tail feathers have several black 

 bars passing on each side from the shaft, not quite rec- 

 tangular in their direction, but inclining towards the tip of 

 the feathers. 



The genus Thryothorus of Vieillot, consists of a small 

 group of species which inhabit only North and South Ame- 

 rica. There is so great an analogy between them, that de- 

 scription is scarcely sufficient for the purposes of accurate 

 distinction. The differences, however, which characterize 

 them are easily observable in nature. 



The Great Carolina Wren {Thryothorus Litloralis, Vieill.) 

 is found constantly in the month of May on the banks of the 



