Cambridge, Mass.
1908
Sept 7
  Brilliantly clear with fresh, cool north-west wind.
  After an absence of eight days I returned to Cambridge
from Concord this morning. As I was writing in my study
in the Museum about 10 A.M. I heard a bird scolding among
the rhododendrons just below the window and at once went out to
ascertain what it was as its voice seemed unfamiliar. As I
approached the rhododendrons closely I saw a Redstart and a
Red-eyed Vireo flitting through them but I knew that neither of
these birds could be the author of the low, insistent, grating chatter
that continued to come from the heart of the thicket. At length I
caught a glympse of still a third bird which was hopping about
in the deep shadow under the dense foliage on the surface of
the leaf-strewn ground. At first glance I took it to be a House
Wren but a moment later when it came out into a patch
of sunlight & I got my glass on it I saw that it was
a Carolina Wren. Soon afterwards it was joined by another bird
of the same species and for a few seconds I had them both
under my glass in a good light, at a distance of not over ten
feet. They were evidently feeding but one of them seemed ill at ease
for it kept up the scolding chatter (very like that of a House Wren)
at intervals. Both were in ragged, moulting plumage with patches
of bright, new feathers appearing here & there among the coarse & faded
ones. One bird had a full tail, the other only a single tail
feather. I took both to be adults and from what I afterwards
saw of them I believe they were a mated pair. They remained
in the Garden through the entire day keeping at all times near
together, one following the other closely during the short flights
they took from place to place. Some of these flights were voluntary
on their part, others due to the fact that they were repeatedly
disturbed for I hunted up Walter Deane & he and I followed
A pair of Carolina Wrens in our Garden.