COMMON BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES, id 
Spiders are acceptable and are captured every month in the season. The wren finds 
these when searching under piles of lumber or brush, stone walls, hollow logs, out- 
houses, and sheds. They aggregate 10.51 per cent of the food, and in March 32.5 per 
cent. Millepeds (thousand-legs) form a part (2.76 per cent) of the food of the first four 
months of the year, six-sevenths of them being eaten in April. Other creatures, 
as sowbugs and snails, were found in a few stomachs, but are a negligible quantity. 
No accusation has been brought against the wren that it harms fruit or other farm 
products. Both field observation and stomach examination show that it consumes 
great numbers of noxious 
insects, thereby benefiting FE 
the farmer and gardener. A 2S= S 
It is a cheery, bustling oa 
little creature to have Zz - pe 
about the homestead and 
should be thoroughly pro- 
tected. Put up a box 
where cats can not get at 
itand the wren will pay 
. good rent.—F. E. L. B. 
CAROLINA WREN.! 
The Carolina wren (fig. 
3) is resident from the 
Gulf of Mexico north to 
the southern boundaries of E= 
Iowa, Illinois, and Con- . Fy WS . 
necticut in the breeding ; SF SS 
season, but in winter with- : 
draws somewhat farther 
south. Itisa bird of the 
thicket and undergrowth, 
preferring to place its nest 
in holes and crannies but 
when necessary will build 
a bulky structure in a 
tangle of twigs and vines. 
Unlike the house wren it 
Y 
ZY i Upp SS 
yf N SS 
Z 7, ANN SS 
does not ordinarily use 
the structures of man for 
‘the few American birds AW I i il 
that sing throughout the Hien | i 
} i 
' try to, in the mating sea- I | / | 
son, but the Carolina wren \ 
forth his melody of song Fic. 3.—Carolina wren. Length, about 5} inches. 
every month. The writer’s 
from a thicket a song which reminded him of June instead of midwinter. ; 
This wren keeps up the reputation of the family as an insect eater, ag over nine- 
nesting sites. It is one of 
year. Most birds sing, or 
may be heard pouring = SE 
first introduction to this bird was in the month of January when he heard gushing 
tenths of its diet consists of insects and their allies. In this investigation of its food 
1 Thryothorus ludovicianus. 
