certhiadjE. 319 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen killed at Penetanguishene, on Lake Huron. 



Colour. — Upper plumage pale chestnut, darker on the head and brighter on the rump : 

 all posterior to the neck, including the wing coverts and lesser quills, barred obscurely with 

 hair-brown*. Two lower rows of coverts tipped with a dark bar and a spot of greyish-white. 

 Primaries banded with yellowish and liver-browns : inner webs of all the quills clove-brown. 

 Under surface. — Superciliary line, cheeks, throat, and breast, pale wood-brown, spotted with 

 liver-brown ; belly, flanks, and inner wing coverts, barred with the same on a greyish-white 

 ground. Under tail coverts banded with white, liver-brown, and ferruginous. Bill dark 

 umber, honey-yellow towards the base beneath. 



Form typical, agreeing perfectly with the European Wren. 



Length, total 

 ,, of tail 

 „ of wing 



Dimensions. 



Inch. Lin. 

 4 Length of bill above . 

 14 „ of bill to rictus . 

 2 ,, of tarsus 



Inch. 

 . 

 

 . 



LiD. 

 5 

 7 

 8 



Length of middle toe 

 „ of its nail 

 „ of hind toe 

 ,, of its nail 



Inch. 





 . 





 . 



Lin. 

 6 

 21 



4i 



4 



iGLODYTES PALUSTRIS. 



(Boi 



iap 



.) Marsh Wren. 





[111.] 3. Tr< 



Genus, Troglodytes, ANTiauoRUM. 



Marsh Wren (Certhia palustris). Wils., ii., p. 58, pi. 12, f. 4. 

 Troglodytes palustris. Bonap. Obs., No. 66; Syn., No. 150. 

 Thryothorus arundineus. Vieil. Ois. de PAm., pi. 108 ? 



The relative value of M. Vieillot's genus Thryothorus has not yet been deter- 

 mined by analysis, nor has he himself attended much to its typical distinctions. 

 From what we have ascertained, it appears to us to be a group equivalent to that 

 which comprehends our European Wren, from which it differs in having a longer 

 and a decidedly toothed bill. The feet also are larger, and are much more in 

 unison with the scansorial structure. Its geographic range appears to be restricted 

 to America. The Great Carolina Wren of Wilson and our present bird may be 

 considered the osculant links between these two groups, but, in their general 

 structure^ more assimilating to Troglodytes than to Thryothorus. The name of 

 Kampylorhynchus, given by Spix to a Brazilian Thryothorus, cannot be retained, 

 as M. Vieillot's name had been published long before. — Sw. 



* The base of the plumage generally is blackish-grey ; and on the rump feathers that colour is separated from the 

 brown tips by white specks. 



