OF VIRGINIA 331 
they are one of our best friends in keeping down the 
smaller caterpillars, worms, small millers and insects of 
numerous kinds. Their song is a most pleasing one, but 
when uttered continuously in close proximity to a person, 
as they must do when building in and around our 
residences, it becomes very monotonous. Taking them as 
a whole they are a very sociable and welcome breeding bird. 
GENUS NANNUS. 
[722]. Nannus hiemalis hiemalis (Vieillot). Winter 
Wren. 
Raner.—Eastern North America. Breeds in Canadian 
zone from central Alberta, southern Manitoba, northern 
Ontario, northern Quebec, and Newfoundland south to 
central Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, central Michigan, 
and Massachusetts, and through the Alleghenies to North 
Carolina; winters from about its southern breeding limit 
to Texas and northern Florida. 
The Canadian zone of our mountains is the summer 
home of this wren, but during the fall and spring, the 
middle of April, and again during October, a few may be 
found in the lower altitudes. They are the smallest and 
most seclusive of any of the species of wren we have with 
us, and it is improbable if but few of our inhabitants 
will ever come in direct contact with them, keeping as 
they do in the dense undergrowth, and close to the ground. 
They breed in Giles, Grayson, and Washington counties; 
probably others in Alleghenian Range. They have also 
been taken in the mountains of North Carolina by 
Mr. William Brewster. The nests are not unlike those 
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