WRENS 



(719) Thryomanes bewicki 



(Audubon) {Gr,, a reed, a kind of cup). 



BEWICK'S WREN. Plumage as 

 shown; upper parts dark brown, the 

 feathers on the rump having con- 

 cealed whitish spots; wings and tail 

 barred with black, the latter with 

 white tips and spots on the ends of 

 the outer feathers; a white line over 

 the eye; under parts whitish, shading 

 to brownish on the flanks. L., 5.00; 

 W., 2.30; T., 2.10; B., .50. Nesl — 

 Of grasses and feathers in hollow 

 trees, stumps or crevices. 



Range — Breeds from Pa., 111., 

 southern Mich, and Neb. southward. 

 Winters in the Gulf States. 

 (719c) T. b. cryptus Oberholser 



TEXAS BEWICK WREN. 

 Southern plains from Kan. and Tex. 

 southward. 



song. Among the many songs they sing, two stand out the 

 most conspicuously, one a rapid liquid "quer-dle, quer-dle, 

 quer-dle, quer-dle" and the other sounding like " cle-er-ee-u, 

 cle-er-ee-u, cle-er-ee-u. " The first of these songs is similar 

 to ones given sometimes by Cardinals and by Kentucky 

 Warblers, but neither of these species puts the life and expres- 

 sion into the song that is given it by Sir Wren. 



Their usual haunts are thickets and underbrush in wood- 

 land, but they are not above sometimes appearing about 

 habitations and tucking their nests away in any nook or 

 cranny that takes their fancy. Most of their nests, however, 

 are placed in cavities in stumps, being composed of twigs, 

 weeds, grass, leaves, and feathers. They are very prolific, 

 laying from five to seven eggs and often raising two or three 

 broods in a season. 



BEWICK'S WRENS are a smaller species, abundant in 

 southern states and apparently extending their range grad- 

 ually to the northward. They are often confused with the 



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