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THE GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 



Troglodytes LUDOviciANUs, Ch. Bonaparte.- 



PLATE LXXVIII. Male and Female. 



Permit me to suggest, kind reader, that I think it always best to see 

 and judge of individuals in their own country. There independence 

 and ease are more commonly met with, and the observer is less attended 

 to. This being admitted, I shall give you the history and life of the 

 Great Carolina Wren, as studied in the State of Louisiana, where that 

 bird is a constant resident. 



' Its flight is performed by short flappings of the wings, the concave 

 under surfaces of which occasion a low rustUng, as the bird moves to the 

 distance of a few steps only at each start. It is accompanied by violent 

 jerks of the tail and body, and is by no means graceful. In this manner 

 the Carolina Wren moves from one fence-rail to another, from log to 

 log, up and down among the low branches of bushes, piles of wood, and 

 decayed roots of prostrate trees, or between the stalks of canes. Its tail 

 is almost constantly erect, and before it starts to make the least flight or 

 leap, it uses a quick motion, which brings its body almost into contact 

 with the object on wliich it stands, and then springs from its legs. All 

 this is accompanied with a strong chirr-up, uttered as if the bird were in 

 an angry mood, and repeated at short intervals. 



The quickness of the motions of this active little bird is fully equal to 

 that of the mouse. Like the latter, it appears and is out of sight in a mo- 

 ment, peeps into a crevice, passes rapidly through it, and shews itself at 

 a diffei'ent place the next instant. When satiated with food, or fatigued 

 with these multiplied exertions, the little fellow stops, droops its tail, and 

 sings with great energy a short ditty something resembling the words 

 come-to-me, come-to-me, repeated several times in quick succession, so 

 loud, and yet so meUow, that it is always agreeable to listen to them. 

 During spring, these notes are heard from all parts of the plantations, 

 the damp woods, the swamps, the sides of creeks and rivers, as well as 

 from the barns, the stables and the piles of wood, within a few yards of 

 the house. I have frequently heard these Wrens singing from the roof 



