Cambridge, Mass.
1909.
Nov. 30 [November 30, 1909]
  About sunset this evening I heard the Carolina Wren
uttering a low, harsh, grating, scolding cry, evidently among
the lilacs at the rear of our house. When I opened the
front door of the Museum cautiously he became silent. He
is an exceedingly shy bird, most difficult to get a
sight of.
Dec. 15 [December 15, 1909] About 4.15 this evening the Carolina Wren began scolding
vociferously in the thicket of young hemlocks that screen
our clothes yard, using the same notes I heard on Nov. 30.
He kept it up for several minutes. I was unable to see him.
Dec. 16 [December 16, 1909] About 8 o'clock this morning, as I was in our dressing 
room getting ready for breakfast, I heard the Carolina Wren
through the closed window. Looking out and down I
saw him almost beneath me, within a few yards, in the
wisteria vine over the rustic gate that leads from the
garden into the driveway. In company with 2 Chickadees
he remained here for several minutes hopping about among
the terminal twigs in strong sunlight, giving me a
fine view of his head and upper parts which were
very red. All the birds seemed to be excited about 
something, perhaps a cat concealed among the lilacs, although
I failed to discover anything calculated to disturb them.
The Wren kept uttering a clear, tinkling, rather musical
teet-lee. This resembled one of the song notes of the species
but unlike the notes of the song which are invariably uttered
in sets of three or or four with rather wide pauses between the
sets it was given scores of times in such rapid succession
that the intervals of silence between the notes were
scarce appreciable. From this I concluded that the
bird was not singing but merely scolding.