THE BAY STATE OOLOGIST. 



23 



The Carolina Wren. 



BY L. O. PINDAR, PRES., Y. O. A. 



Late in Sept., 1886, I first identified this bird at Hickman, Kentucky. I was 

 walking along the railroad between two corn-fields, when I noticed a movement 

 in the long grass beside a fence near the track. 



I stopped and watched, and presently a little round ball of feathers hopped into 

 view, projected a little head, looked at me first out one eye and then out o* 

 the other, chirped and dropped out of sight. 



All this was done so quickly that I had no time to define the colors, any more 

 than that they were brown. I moved a little nearer, when two birds (the one I saw 

 first and probably its mate) jumped up and chirped at me, and as I came still near- 

 er they gave me a good scolding for troubling myself over what they no doubt 

 considered was none of my business. 



Finding that I did not return, they gave a contemptous flirt of their tails and flew; 

 and I kept on, well satisfied with my walk, for I had identified a new bird, the fa- 

 mous "Mocking Wren," whose loud song I was destined to hear all through the 

 next year, even in the heat of the August sun, when the other forest songsters 

 were hushed and silent. 



Having thus told of my introduction to this bird, I will now introduce him to 

 mv readers. He is much larger than the common House Wren, biing about 6.00 

 inches in length and 7.50 inches in extent. The upper parts are reddish-brown, 

 brightening on the rump. The under parts, superciliary line, outer edges of 

 primaries and lateral tail feathers, tips of the wing coverts and a few concealed 

 spots on the rump, whitish. The under tail coverts are like the back, with numer- 

 ous black bars. 



It is a common resident in south-western Kentucky, and seems to be gradually 

 growing more common. It is easy to find its whereabouts from its loud, ever 

 heard song; but not so easy to get a good view of the bird itself. 



Its principal habitat is the South-eastern States. It is a resident as far north as 

 Washington, D. C, and a summer visitant in the Middle States. Coues, in his 

 "New England Bird Life" says : "A summer visitant in N. E., where it occurs 

 rarely, and only as far north as Mass." This latter state is probably its north- 

 ern limit, and Kansas its western. 



The nest is a bulky affair, made of grass, hay, leaves, paper, feathers, corn-silk, 

 horse-hair, etc., etc. It is placed anywhere; often in an unoccupied building, in 

 a hole, a bush, a woodpile, and I heard of one which was made in a tin can and of 

 another which was constructed in a broken kettle. 



The eggs are white, speckled with reddish-brown and purple, the spots being as 

 a rule more abundant at the larger end. They are four to seven in number and 

 the average measurement is .72X.60 inches. 



I should have stated above that unless the nest is under artificial shelter, it is 

 almost invariably arched over, only leaving an opening large enough to permit 

 the entrance and exit of the bird. 



