Family TROGLODYTIDZ. 
Genus TROGLODYTES. 
Motacilla apud Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 337 (1766). 
Sylvia apud Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 160 (1769). 
Troglodytes, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. ii. p. 52 (1807). 
Anorthura apud Rennie, Mont. Orn. Dict. 2nd ed. p. 570 (1831). 
THE true Wrens inhabit the Palearctic, Nearctic, Neotropical, and the extreme northern part of 
the Oriental Region, two species only being met with in the Western Palearctic Region, where 
they are residents. ‘They are active, lively little birds, frequenting gardens, groves, hedges, &c., 
and are often seen on trees as well as on bushes. ‘They feed on insects, seeds, &c., have a loud, 
mellow, clear song, and sing late in the season and even in the winter. They make a large, 
strongly constructed, rounded or oblong nest of moss and straws, lined with feathers, and deposit 
numerous eggs white in colour, more or less dotted or spotted with reddish. 
Troglodytes aédon, an American species, is the type of the genus; but as our European 
species, Troglodytes parvulus, is congeneric, I give its characters, as follows:—Bill moderate in 
length, slender, acute, slightly arched, compressed towards the tip; nostrils linear-oblong, basal, 
partly covered by a membrane ; wings short, concave, much rounded, first quill short, the second 
nearly equal to the eighth, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth nearly equal, the fifth the longest ; 
tail short, slightly rounded; feet and legs moderate in length, strong, tarsus covered in front 
with four plates and three inferior scutelle, middle toe united at the base to the outer toe, hind 
toe rather long, claws strong, curved; plumage long and soft. 
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