FAMILY TROGLODYTIDAE 



IOI 



through its calls, until finally it settled in an area of dense brush. Here 

 after watching for 15 minutes, we finally saw it clearly enough to iden- 

 tify it. At Sona, Veraguas, in 1953 this wren was called "ruisenor del 

 monte." 



Stomachs of birds collected for specimens were filled with fragments 

 of small spiders and a variety of insects, among which were beetles, 

 cockroaches, bugs, caterpillars, and ants. One, in addition, held a small 

 seed. 



Two males collected by Strauch (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 1977, p. 64) 

 weighed 15.3 and 15.7 g. 



In Costa Rica, Skutch (Pac. Coast Avif. no. 34, 1960, pp. 116-122) 

 describes the song and habits in detail. Through the song, given at 

 times antiphonally by mated pairs, contact is maintained between in- 

 dividuals. He found them building flimsy, covered nests for sleeping, 

 which they seemed to occupy alone. In nesting season, pairs built globu- 

 lar nests of leaves with an opening in the side. The eggs, two or three, 

 were "white with a heavy wreath of brown spots around the thickest 

 part, and a sprinkling of the same over the remaining surface. Those 

 of one set measured 18.3x13.9, 18.3x13.9, and 17.9x13.5 millime- 

 ters." The young have no down at hatching. 



The subspecies hyperythrus ranges from southwestern Costa Rica 

 through central Panama, chiefly on the Pacific slope, to the Rio Bayano 

 basin. 



The species T. rutilus, as here used, includes other subspecies chiefly 

 in hill country and other cleared areas of Colombia, Venezuela, Trini- 

 dad, and Tobago. Some authors include in this species the T. maculi- 

 pectus group of southeastern Mexico to Costa Rica, and the rather 

 similar-looking T. sclateri of Ecuador and Peru (Hellmayr, Cat. Birds 

 Amer., pt. 7, 1934, pp. 201-209). Others combine the sclateri group in 

 T. rutilus but keep T. maculipectus separate (Paynter, 1960, Check- 

 list Birds World, vol. 9, pp. 405-407) or separate T. rutilus but combine 

 the sclateri group with the very distant T. maculipectus (Meyer de 

 Schauensee, 1966, The Species of Birds of South America, pp. 404- 

 405; Howell, Condor, 1957, p. 98). If the species concept of T. rutilus 

 is enlarged, the name Speckled Wren is applicable (Eisenmann, in litt. ) 



TROGLODYTES AEDON Vieillot: House Wren, Cucarachero Comun 



Troglodytes a'edon Vieillot, 1808?, Hist. Nat. Ois. Amer., Sept., vol. 2, p. 52, pi. 

 107. (No definite locality mentioned = New York City.) 



Small; short tailed; dark grayish brown, without striking head mark- 

 ings; whitish underneath. 



