212 GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 



boundaries of their visits, having sought for it in vain among 

 the States of New England. Its food appears to consist of 

 those insects, and their larva?, that frequent low, damp caves, 

 piles of dead timber, old roots, projecting banks of creeks, &c. 

 It certainly possesses the faculty of seeing in the dark better 

 than day birds usually do ; for I have observed it exploring 

 the recesses of caves, where a good acute eye must have been 

 necessary to enable it to distinguish its prey. 



In the southern States, as well as in Louisiana, this species 

 is generally resident ; though in summer they are more 

 numerous, and are found rather farther north than in winter. 

 In this last season their chirruping is frequently heard in 

 gardens soon after daybreak, and along the borders of the 

 great rivers of the southern States, not far from the sea- 

 coast. 



The great wren of Carolina is five inches and a quarter long, 

 and seven broad ; the whole upper parts are reddish brown, 

 the wings and tail being barred with black ; a streak of 

 yellowish white runs from the nostril over the eye, down the 

 side of the neck, nearly to the back ; below that, a streak of 

 reddish brown extends from the posterior part of the eye to 

 the shoulder ; the chin is yellowish white ; the breast, sides, 

 and belly, a light rust colour, or reddish buff; vent feathers, 

 white, neatly barred with black ; in the female, plain ; wing- 

 coverts, minutely tipt with white ; legs and feet, flesh coloured, 

 and very strong ; bill, three-quarters of an inch long, strong, 

 a little bent, grooved, and pointed; the upper mandible, bluish 

 black; lower, light blue ; nostrils, oval, partly covered with a 

 prominent convex membrane ; tongue, pointed and slender ; 

 eyes, hazel ; tail, cuneiform, the two exterior feathers on each 

 side three-quarters of an inch shorter, whitish on their exterior 

 edges, and touched with deeper black ; the same may be said 

 of the three outer primaries. The female wants the white 

 on the wing-coverts, but differs little in colour from the 

 male. 



In this species I have observed a circumstance common to 



