1X8 GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 



I found it very numerous in the Floridas and all along the coast of the 

 Mexican Gulf to within the Texas, where it spends the whole year. Mr. 

 Townsend mentions it as being found on the Missouri. 



The dwarf buck-eye, on a blossomed twig of which this pair of Great 

 Carolina Wrens are placed, is by nature as well as name a low shrub. It 

 grows near swampy ground in great abundance. Its flowers, which are 

 scentless, are much resorted to by Humming-birds, on their first arrival, 

 as they appear at a very early season. The wood resembles that of the 

 common horse-chestnut, and its fruit is nearly the same in form and colour, 

 but much smaller. I know of no valuable property possessed by this beau- 

 tiful shrub. 



Great Carolina Wren, Certhia Caroliniana, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 61. 

 Troglodytes lddovicianus, Bonap. Syn., p. 93. 

 Great Carolina Mocking Wren, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 429. 



Great Carolina Wren, Troglodytes ludovicianus , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 399, vol. 

 v. p. 466. 



Adult Male. 



Bill nearly as long as the head, subulato-conical, slightly arched, com- 

 pressed towards the tip; upper mandible with the sides convex towards the 

 end, concave at the base, the edges acute and overlapping; under mandible 

 with the back and sides convex. Nostrils oblong, straight, basal, with a 

 cartilaginous lid above, open and bare. Head oblong, neck of ordinary size, 

 body ovate. Legs of ordinary length; tarsus longer than the middle toe, 

 compressed, anteriorly scutate, posteriorly edged; toes, scutellate above, 

 inferiorly granulate; second and fourth nearly equal, the hind toe almost as 

 long as the middle one, third and fourth united as far as the second joint; 

 claws long, slender, acute, arcuate, much compressed. 



Plumage soft, lax, and tufty. Wings short, very convex, broad and 

 rounded, the first quill very short, the fourth longest. Tail rather long, 

 curved downwards, much rounded, of twelve narrowish, rounded feathers. 



Bill wood-brown above, bluish beneath. Iris hazel. Legs flesh-colour. 

 The general colour of the upper part is brownish-red. A yellowish-white 

 streak over the eye, extending far down the neck, and edged above with 

 dark brown. Quills, coverts and tail barred with blackish-brown; secondary 

 and middle coverts tipped with white; shafts of the scapulars white. Throat 

 greyish-white, under parts reddish-buff, paler behind. Under tail-coverts 

 white, barred with blackish. 



Length 5£ inches, extent of wings 7£; bill along the ridge f, along the 

 gap \-\; tarsus -£-. 



Adult Female. 



