366 



TJ. S. P. E. E. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ^ZOOLOGY — GfENEBAL EEPOET. 



throughout witli brown, (the color grayish on the under surface.) Beneath white, the sides, upper part of breast, and under 

 tail covers reddish brown. Upper parts, with the exceptions mentioned, reddish brown. Length, 4.50 ; wing, 1.75; tail, 1.75. 

 Hub. — Eastern United States to the Loup Fork of Platte. 



The series before me is not sufficiently full to say if the sexes differ in color. The dusky hars 

 on the wing and tail are broad and conspicuous. The under tail coverts are faintly barred with 

 lighter. There are also obsolete streaks of whitish on the sides of th||neck. ' The forehead is 

 brownish, not dusky. 

 ^ This species differs in its white streaks on the back from all other North American wrens, 

 excepting T. palustris. In this there are no streaks on the head or rump ; the tail is blacker, 

 the bill much longer, the size much larger every way. I have not yet seen any specimens from 

 the regions beyond the Missouri, except that collected by Lieut. Warren's expedition on the 

 Loup Fork of the Platte, probably near the eastern limit of the high central plains. 



List of specimens. 



TROGLODYTES, Vieillot. 



Troglodytes, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 52, type T. aedon. 



" Anorihura, Rennie, 1831 ;" (in Montague's Ornithological Dictionary?) Type Molaeilla troglodytes. 



The characters of this section will be found sufficiently indicated in the synopsis of the genera 

 on a preceding page. It comes nearest to Oistothorus, but is distinguished by weaker feet and 

 much smaller hind claws, which, instead of being equal to or longer than the remaining portion 

 of the toe, is decidedly shorter. 



The propriety of keeping the Troglodytes aedon in the same section with T. hyemalis may, 

 perhaps, be questioned, as the latter differs essentially in the slender and nearly straight bill, 

 and the very short tail, which is surpassed by the whole of the toes when outstretched. These 

 differences I have indicated by the sections mentioned in the synopsis. 



Of the first section. Troglodytes, there are possibly three species. Two of these have a lighter 

 superciliary line ; one is the well known house wren, T. aedon. The other, its western repre- 

 sentative, differing in the grayer color, without any rufous beneath. The third species, T. 

 americanus, has no superciliary stripe. 



In the second section, Anorthura, there is but one species in this country, T. hyemalis, closely 

 related, however, to the European T. parvulus. 



