Plate XI 



THRYOTHORUS LUDOVICIANUS-Great Carolina Wren. 



The Carolina Wren is a very common resident, but perhaj^s more plentiful in summer than in win- 

 ter. It is possessor of an exceedingly attractive voice, and being indefatigable in its efforts to be heard, 

 is well known and much admired. "Its song is really a remarkable performance. Mounting to the end 

 of a fence rail, top of a stump, or even to the topmost branch of a solitary tree, it pours forth a 

 succession of notes more varied and nearly as loud as the Brown Thrush. This song is prolonged until 

 he seems to have silenced all the less gifted songsters in the neighborhood; then, with a downward 

 flight, he seeks the retirement of his favorite thicket and the company of his approving mate. Its 

 ordinary call note or alarm is a loud cJiirr-Ghm% sometimes loud and harsh, sometimes low and soft, often 

 prolonged. ... It has still another note, loud and emphatic, the most frequently heard of all, which 

 an acquaintance renders, ^Jaeger cheats^ Jaeger cheats^ Jaeger cheats.'' These notes are heard both in winter 

 and summer; the 2:)rolouged performance is heard only in spring and early summer." Nest-building may 

 commence as early as the last of March, but usually not until April or May. Two, and sometimes three, 

 broods are reared in the season. 



LOCALITY: 



Although this Wren appears shy and fond of secluded little nooks, it has so much curiosity, and 

 such a manifest liking for the works and company of man, and the protection which his presence affords, 

 that it is content to build beside the ver}^ door of his house if a foot of space is given up for its sole 

 occupancy. Here the old bird may place her nest, courting shelter and imagining the seclusion in which 

 she so much delights, cautiously slipping on and off, as if in great fear some one might suspect that a 

 Wren has an aim in life. Accordingly, the majority of nests are built in the vicinity of towns and 

 farm-houses, but the uninhabited woods are not entirely neglected. In thick timber-lands the birds are 

 so wary, and the nests so difficult to find, that they may be more numerous than I imagine. 



To name the ^'arious localities in which the nest has been placed, would fill a volume, and whei'e it 

 may yet be found would be equally laborious to determine; so the naming of a few of the ordinary sit- 

 uations must suffice. In the woods, the nest is found in old brush-piles, thick clumps of undergrowth, 

 decayed logs and stumps, fence-corners, and similarly protected spots. In towns and about farm-houses, 

 hay-mows, rafters, beams, Avindow-sills, Martin-boxes, pump-spouts, pockets and sleeves of old coats hang- 

 ing in any accessible place, jars, and tin-cans, are a few of the frequented sites. 



POSITIOI^ . 



The nest is, from the nature of the locality selected, usually supported by a flat surface from below; 

 but when such a place as a coat-sleeve is chosen, it may then receive its sole support from the sides, the 

 material being packed so tightly that there is no danger of its slipping down ; when built in the hay in 

 a mow or stack, a cavity is excavated to receive the materials, which are, in this case, held upon all 



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