THE SINGING BIRDS. 273 



concealment, keeping busily engaged near the ground, or in low thickets, in quest of his food ; and 

 when he mounted a log or brush-pile, which he had just examined, his colour, so similar to the fallen 

 leaves and wintry livery of Nature, often prevented me from gaining a glimpse of the wonderful and 

 interesting mimic." 



" The nest of the Carolina Wren," says Audubon, " is usually placed in a hole of seme low, 

 decayed tree, or in a fence stake, sometimes even in the stable, barn, or coach-house, should it there 

 find a place suitable for its reception. I have found some not more than two feet from the ground 

 in the stump of a tree that had long before been felled by the axe. The materials employed in its 

 construction are hay, grasses, leaves, feathers, and horsehair, or the dry fibres of the Spanish moss ; 

 the feathers, hair, or moss, form the lining, the coarse materials the outer parts. When the hole is 

 sufficiently large, the nest is not unfrequently five or six inches in depth, although only just wide 

 enough to admit one of the birds at a time. The number of eggs is from five to eight. They are of 

 a broad oval form, greyish white, sprinkled with reddish brown. Whilst at Oakley, the residence of 

 my friend James Perrie, Esq., near Bagon, Jura, I discovered that one of these birds was in the habit 

 of roosting in a Wood Thrush's nest, that was placed on a low horizontal branch, and had been filled 

 with leaves that had fallen during the autumn. It was in the habit of thrusting its body beneath the 

 leaves, and, I doubt not, found the place very comfortable. They usually raise two, sometimes three 

 broods in a season. The young soon come out from the nest, and, in a few days after, creep and hop 

 about with as much nimbleness as the old ones. Their plumage undergoes no change, merely 

 becoming firmer in the colouring." 



THE HOUSE WREN. 

 The House Wren (Thryothorus platensis), a South American species, is brown on the upper 

 portion of the body, shading into red towards the rump. The quills and tail-feathers are finely striped 

 with blackish brown, the former edged with a paler shade on the inner web ; a pale streak passes over 

 the eye ; the throat is white ; the region of the cheek striped with brown ; the throat, breast, and belly 

 are pale reddish yellow, the sides of the breast being deepest in tint, and faintly streaked. The eye is 

 deep brown ; the beak dark grey, whitish at its base ; the foot reddish brown. The length of the 

 body is four inches and six lines, the breadth six inches ; the wing measures one inch and ten lines, 

 and the tail an inch and a half. " This agreeable singing bird," says the Prince von Wied, " may be 

 regarded as replacing our Common House Sparrow about the Brazilian houses. In appearance and 

 habits it closely resembles the Common Wren, and is constantly to be seen hopping nimbi} 7 about the 

 gardens and over the roofs and fences, or creeping with astonishing quickness through tiny holes or 

 compact hedges. Its loud, sweet-toned voice is very similar to that of the True Warblers. The nests, 

 which are small and carelessly constructed, are generally built upon the house-tops, or in holes of 

 walls ; those we saw were open above and very shallow, formed externally of stalks and grass, thickly 

 lined with feathers. The eggs, four in number, were rose-pink, marked with deep red." 



THE FLUTE-PLAVER 

 The Flute-player (Cyphorhinus cantans), a very noted species of Wren inhabiting South 

 America, represents a group distinguished by the following characteristics : — The beak is strong, 

 compressed at its sides ; the nostrils small, round, quite open, and surrounded by a skin, whereas in 

 other members of the family they are furnished with a covering ; the wings are short and much 

 rounded ; the tail of moderate size, and graduated at its sides ; the legs are strong, and the moderate- 

 sized toes armed with very disproportionately powerful claws. The upper part of the plumage is 

 reddish brown, lightest upon the brow and top of the head. The mantle-feathers are marked with 

 vol. 11. — 74 



