HOUSE WREN 93 



under parts are lighter, and it is likely even in the fall to 

 utter its grating scolding-note. The Winter Wren utters a 

 chick of surprise, and generally bobs or curtsies ; this bob- 

 bing action will identify it at once. The Winter Wren has 

 a light line over the eye, which the House Wren lacks, but 

 the line is often rather indistinct, and especially difficult to 

 see clearly on such an active and secretive bird. 



House Wken. Troglodytes aedon ; 



6.00 



Ad. — Upper parts warm brown ; wings and tail faintly barred 

 with black ; under parts grayish, the flanks faintly barred with 

 black ; bill long, slender ; tail more than IJ in. long. 



Nest, of sticks, etc., in a hole in a tree or box. Eggs, sometimes 

 as many as eight, thickly speckled with piukish-brown. 



The House Wren is a common summer resident in most 

 of New England and the lower Hudson Valley, but it is a 

 local bird, and may be wholly absent from certain regions. It 

 is rare in northern N"ew England, and confined to the Transi- 

 tion Zone. Occasionally it is found nesting in dead trees in 

 the burnt tracts away from the settlements, but as a rule any 

 wren seen in the forests of northern New England is a Win- 

 ter Wren. The House Wren arrives late in April, or early 

 in May, and stays till October. It frequents apple orchards, 

 or the yards about houses. Its small size, brown, unstreaked 

 upper parts, and its pert ways readily distinguish it from 

 other small birds. It often cocks its tail over its back, espe- 

 cially when scolding an intruder. When it sings, it holds its 

 tail pointed downward. 



The House Wren's song is a vigorous, bubbling perform- 

 ance, the notes following each other very rapidly. Its scold- 

 ing-note is a harsh grating chatter, often uttered by the bird 

 from its hiding-place in a stone wall or a brush heap, into and 

 out of which it slips with the ease of a mouse. (See preced- 

 ing species.) 



