TBOGLODYTIB^— TBOGLODYTIN^ : TRUE WBEN8. 



279 



Fig. 150. — Winter Wren, little reduced, 

 figure of A. alascensis.) 



(Baird's 



shorter than the head. Tail much shorter than the wings. Length 3.90-4.10 ; extent 6.00- 

 6.50; wing 1.75; tail 1.35; hiU 0.40; tarsus, middle toe, and claw together, about 1.13. 

 N. Am. at large, common, migratory, breed- 

 ing from New England and corresponding 

 latitudes northward, wintering in the U. S., 

 the strict representative of the European 

 wren. Nest of twigs, moss, lichens, hair, 

 feathers, etc., usually in a stump or log 

 close to the ground ; eggs 5-8, 0.65 X 0.48, 

 pure white, minutely dotted with reddish- 

 brown and purplish. A sly, secretiYe little 

 bird, less often seen than other wrens no less 

 common ; voice strong and highly musical. 



Tl. A. t. paci'ficus ? (Lat. padficus, pacific, 

 peace-making; pax and facio; alluding to 

 " the stilly sea. ") Westeen Winter Wren- Like the last ; darker, in lack of the 

 whitish specks of the upper parts, and whitish bars on outer webs of the primaries ; but 

 very slightly distinguished. Pacific Coast region. 



T8. A. t. alascen'sis. (Of Alaska.) Alaskan Winter Wren. Like the common species in 

 form and coloration; larger; size of a house wren; wing 2.00-2.30; tail 1.50; tarsus 0.75 j 

 tarsus, middle toe, and claw together 1.40 ; biU 0.65. Culmen, gape, and gonys almost per- 

 fectly straight, latter slightly ascending. Aleutian and Pribylov Islands, Alaska. Well dis- 

 tinguished from the common form, and nearer the Japanese A. fumigatus. 

 25. TELMATO'DYTES. (Gr. rikjia, telma, a swamp ; bvrqs, dutes, an inhabitant.) Maksh 

 Wrens. Small. Upper parts not uniform ; back streaked lengthwise with white in a black 

 patch; iianks scarcely or not barred; crown plain; biU about two- thirds as long as head. 

 Eggs dark. 



79. T. palus'tris. (Lat. palustris, marshy ; palus, a marsh. Pig. 151.) Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren. Above clear brown, unbarred, the middle of the back with a large black patch sharply 



streaked with white (these white stripes sometimes de- 

 ficient). Crown of head usually darker than the back, 

 often quite blackish, and continuoui with the black inter- 

 scapular patch. A dull white superciliary line. Wings 

 fuscous, the inner secondaries blackish on the outer webs, 

 often barred or indented with light brown. Tail evenly 

 barred with fuscous and the color of the back. Under 

 parts white, usually quite pure on the beUy and middle 

 line of the breast and throat, but much shaded with 

 brown on the sides, flanks, and crissum. Bill blacldsh 

 above, pale below; feet brown. Length about 5.00; 

 extent 6.50; wing 1.75-3.00; tail about the same; bill 0.50 or more; tarsus 0.66-0.75. 

 Temperate N. Am. ; Greenland. Breeds throughout its range, and winters in the Southern 

 States ; an abundant bird, colonizing reedy swamps and marshes in large numbers, its great 

 globular nests of plaited rushes, with a hole in the side,'being affixed to the swaying herbage ; 

 eggs 6-10, 0.58 X 0.45, very dark-colored, being so thickly dotted with chocolate-brown as to 

 appear almost uniformly of this color. 



80. T. p. paludi'cola? (Lat. ^aZwdicoto, a marsh-inhabiter; ^ate and cofo, I cultivate.) Tule 

 Marsh Wren. Scarcely recognizable as distinct; biU said to be shorter, and taU and its 

 coverts more distinctly barred. Pacific Coast. 



Fig. 151. — liong-billed Marsh Wren, 

 nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. G.) 



