362 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



" The solicitude of the parent wrens for their forned foster- 

 children is almost painful to witness, the large and voracious 

 chicks being at any time but merely excited by the small quantities 

 of food brought, quantities that would be all sufficient for little- 

 ■bodied wrens. The little foster-parents are thus kept constantly 

 on the move, seeking for moths, spiders, and small insects gener- 

 ally, while the appealing cry of the young lazy-bird is a constant 

 incentive to fresh efforts." 



Beebe (Our Search for a Wilderness, p. 307) writes : — 

 " Suddenly we hear the sweet, rollicking song of the little House- 

 Wren, man's follower, filling the deserted glade with sweetness." 



571. Troglodytes rufulus. 

 Schombdrgk's House- Wren. 



Troglodytes rufulus Cab. in Schomb. Reis. Guian. iii. p. 672, 1848 

 (Mount Roraima) ; Brabom-ne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 338, 

 no. 3449, 1912. 



Thryothorus rufulus Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 201 (Mt. Eoraima, 5000- 

 6000 feet). 



Adult. G-eneral colour of the upper surface chocolate-brown 

 including the top of the head, sides of the face, sides of neck, 

 hind-neck, entire back, wings, and tail ; outer webs of fiight-quUls 

 narrow barred with blackish, thfe inner webs uniform blackish 

 brown ; tail also narrowly barred with blackish ; a pale chestnut 

 line above the eye which extends backward along the sides of the 

 crown ; throat and lower cheeks also pale chestnut or dark fawn- 

 colour ; middle of fore-neck and breast inclining to whitish ; 

 sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts similar to the upper 

 surface ; axillaries and under wing-coverts cinnamon ; under 

 surface of flight-quills greyish brown ; lower aspect of tail similar 

 to its upper surface. 



Total length 118 mm., exposed culmen 10, wing 58, tail 40, 

 tarsus 24. 



There are three example? of this species in the McConnell 

 collection, but without any data whatever to either. I am 

 strongly of opinion, however, that they were collected at Mount 

 Roraima during Mr. McConnell's expedition in October 1898, 

 as the skins are made up so exactly like the many others that 

 ■were collected at that time. 



Breeding-season. Unknown. 



