BEWICK'S WREN. 121 



pair, accompanied by four or five young, nearly full grown. The notes bore 

 some resemblance to those of the Winter Wren, scarcely louder and more 

 connected. It possessed all the restless habits of the other species, creeping 

 actively between the rails of fences and among logs and stumps. One of 

 them ascended an oak nearly to its top in the manner of a Creeper. I found 

 the young several times during the morning entering a hole in the limb of a 

 fallen tree a few feet from the ground, and conjectured that they had been 

 bred in that situation. I was unable to see the nest. During a residence 

 of a few weeks in the neighbourhood of the Virginia springs I saw several 

 of these birds every day, and ascertained that this was the only species of 

 Wren common in the mountains. The Troglodytes sedon was abundant in 

 all the low country of Virginia, to the foot of the Alleghanies. The T. 

 ludovicianits was sparingly seen in the valleys and along the water-courses, 

 but the present species seemed particularly attached to the highest ridges, 

 preferring grounds that had once been cleared, but now partially overgrown. 

 It did not appear to be a shy bird, but, from its active restless habits, was 

 procured with difficulty. It probably sleeps in hollows during the night, as 

 I saw two or three issuing from the hole of a tree at day-light one morning. 

 The stomachs of those which I examined were principally filled with small 

 spiders, minute caterpillars, and the larvae of insects. A specimen of this 

 bird was sent me from Columbia in South Carolina, procured by Dr. Gibbs, 

 and I have no doubt it will be found on the whole range of our southern 

 mountains." 



Dr. Trudeau has sent the following note: — "The Bewick's Wren must 

 be common in Louisiana. I shot but one there, but I frequently found them 

 in the vicinity of the woods, where it must breed. They are seen in the 

 bushes and dive among them as soon as they perceive the gunner. The nest 

 is different from that of the Carolina Wren." 



My friends Mr. Nuttall and Mr. To wnsend found this species on the 

 Columbia river, from which country I have specimens perfectly similar to 

 that figured in my plate. No doubt can exist that it has a wide range along 

 the Rocky Mountains, as well as along the elevated portions of our Atlantic 

 States. Mr. Townsend says that it breeds on the ground. 



I honoured this species with the name of Bewick, a person too well 

 known for his admirable talents as an engraver on wood, and for his beau- 

 tiful work on the Birds of Great Britain, to need any eulogy of mine. I 

 enjoyed the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with him, and found him at 

 all times a most agreeable, kind, and benevolent friend. 



The little twig on which the Wren is perched, is from the tree commonly 

 called the iron-wood tree, a species of elm, the wood of which is very hard 

 and of close texture. The branches, and sometimes the stem, are ornamented 



