101 



Ours are all little brown birds, usually with the quills barred. One hundred or 

 more, chiefly of Tropical America. 



" Our species are sprightly, fearless and impudent little creatures, apt to show 

 bad temper when they fancy themselves aggrieved by cats or by people, or any- 

 thing else that is big or unpleasant to them ; they quarrel a good deal, and. are 

 particularly spiteful towards martins and swallows, whose homes they often invade 

 and occupy. Their song is bright and hearty, and they are fond of their own 

 music; when disturbed at it they make a great ado with noisy scolding. Part of 

 them live in reedy swamps and marshes, where they hang astonishingly big globu- 

 lar nests with a little hole on one side, on tufts of rushes, and lay six or eight dark 

 colored eggs ; the others nest anywhere." (Dr. Cones.) All are insect eaters, and 

 most of them migratory. 



THRYOTHORUS. Vieillot. Mocking Wrens. 



19. T. LUDOVICIANUS. Bonap. Carolina Wren. Clear reddish brown, 

 brightest on ri^mp ; tawny below. L. 6 ; W. 2^ ; T. 2)/^. A rare summer visitor 

 north, but in Central and Southern Indiana its remarkable song is heard through- 

 out the year. It is much like, but far sweeter than the song of the cardinal red- 

 bird. Nests anywhere ; in sheds, stumps, culverts, sparrow-boxes, etc., and rears 

 two or three broods in a season. Eggs usually five. One of the sweetest wild 

 birds. 



20. T. BEWICKII, (Avd.) Bon. Be/nick^s Wren. Grayish brown ; two mid- 

 dle tail feathers barred; L. 6; tail longer than wings. A rare summer resident. 

 A pair reared young in an arbor roof in a vacant lot in Chicago, 1876. (Nelson.) 

 Has been seen in Marion county. Has been taken at Brookville, Ind., by Mr. E. 

 R. Quick. Its habits are essentially the same as the preceding. I saw it abun- 

 dantly in Kentucky. It is indifferent to the presence of man. 



TROGLODYTES. Vieillot. Wrens, 



21. T. ^•EDON. VieilL House Wren. Brown; bright behind; rusty below; 

 everywhere waved with darker brown ; tail about=wings ; L. 5 ; W, 2 ; T. 2 ; com- 

 mon ; very variable. Comes in May and leaves in September, where found. Some 

 towns.it does not favor with its presence and song. Few in Indianapolis, but com- 

 mon in the suburbs. It is not a "house wren" entirely; it is found nesting in 

 fields, thicKets, and even forests, as well as in coat-sleeves, pockets, pump holes, 

 skull of an ox, nest of another bird, boxes and gourds put up for bluebirds and 

 martins ; in a box in Dr. Kennicott's chaise, from which they were driven as often 

 as he made a visit, while the old hat Audubon drew has become, as Dr. Cones 

 remarks, historic. 



They often use from a peck to a bushel of sticks and trash in reducing the aper- 

 ture by which they enter their nest to the proper size. Inside this pile of stuff is 

 a compact, cup-like nest built of soft material. They are sweet singers, and right 

 3X our door too, and should always be encouraged. 



ANORTHURA. Rennie. Winter Wrens. 



22. A. TROGLODYTES, (L.) Cones. Wititer Wren. Variety hyemalis is 

 resident from November to March south, and is reported by Nelson as late as May 

 1 about Chicago. This is our least wren; L. 4; W. i^ ; T. 2. It is deep brown, 



