HOUSE WREN. 



137 



phenomenon not to be expected but from a total change in 

 the very nature and disposition of the species. 



Having seen no accurate description of this bird in any 

 European publication, I have confined my references to Mr 

 Bartram and Mr Peale; but though Europeans are not 

 ignorant of the existence of this bird, they have considered 

 it, as usual, merely as a slight variation from the original 

 stock (31. troglodytes), their own wren, in which they are, 

 as usual, mistaken ; the length and bent form of the bill, its 

 notes, migratory habits, long tail, and red eggs, are sufficient 

 specific differences. 



The house wren inhabits the whole of the United States, 

 in all of which it is migratory. It leaves Pennsylvania in 

 September; I have sometimes, though rarely, seen it in the 

 beginning of October. It is four inches and a half long, and 

 five and three quarters in extent, the whole upper parts of a 

 deep brown, transversely crossed with black, except the head 

 and neck, which is plain ; throat, breast, and cheeks, light clay 

 colour ; belly and vent, mottled with black, brown, and white; 

 tail, long, cuneiform, crossed with black ; legs and feet, light 

 clay colour ; bill, black, long, slightly curved, sharp pointed, 

 and resembling that of the genus Gertliia considerably; the 

 whole plumage below the surface is bluish ash ; that on the 

 rump having large round spots of white, not perceivable unless 

 separated with the hand. The female differs very little in 

 plumage from the male. 



