4- 



THE BAY STATE OOLOGIST. 



Notes on Some Birds of Texas. 



BY J. A. SINGLEY, KS(^. 



{continued from /xiyr 'JO.) 



No, 60, Thryothorus ludovidanus (Gm.), Carolina Wren, 



Another of our resident species, and one of no mean musical ability, is the Car- 

 olina Wren. This species is found everywhere, in bottom and upland, and about 

 dwellings on the prairies, filling about the same place here that the House Wren 

 does in other sections of the United States. It is by no means common, andapair 

 of them are rarely found except during the breeding season, when their loud whist- 

 ling song betrays them. This song, by the way, resembles very much that of the 

 Cardinal Grosbeak, and being equal in volume to the song of the latter, it is some- 

 times hard to tell which bird really is singing. A specimen before me — a male — 

 measures: length, 5.97 inches; extent, 7.37 inches. The upper parts are reddish- 

 brown, paler on the head. The feathers of the rump, when disturbed, show white 

 spots. Wings and tail, same color as the back, obscurely barred with dusk. On 

 the specimen in hand, the bars are broken up into nebulations. Below, the throat 

 is dull white; from throat to tail it is of a rusty white, changing to reddish-brown 

 on the under tail coverts. 



This species is easily satisfied in its choice of a nesting site. I have found 

 nests on the corners of rail fences, on horizontal limbs at their junction with the 

 body of the tree, in old boots laid on a shelf, in an overcoat pocket, on the ground 

 under a bush, in a hollow log and in the interstices between the logs of a cabin. 

 An old "nigger quarters" being a rich field when collecting this species. If they 

 build in a roomy place they will sometimes pile up a half bushel of trash, and 

 somewhere in this mass the nest will be found, composed of fine grasses, leaves 

 and feathers, generally with a lining of horse-hair, sometimes only feathers. The 

 eggs vary in number from four to six, generally five; reddish-white, marked with 

 numerous reddish-brown spots, never blotched. The spots are nearly always 

 thickest at the larger end, often forming a wreath, and sometimes concealing the 

 ground color. Obscure shell markings of lilac are common at the larger end, 

 and in some eggs the brown is nearly suppressed, a few spots only being scatter- 

 ed over the egg. The larger end, however, being deeply marked with the lilac. 

 Davie in his "Key" gives the average size of twenty specimens as .74X.61. My 

 average of ten eggs is .73X. 58. 



