G«aeral noteB, 



Thryothorus ludovicianus in Massachusetts.— On September 27, 1891, 

 I sljot in my garden in Cambridge, Mass., a Carolina Wren. The bird 

 was an adult male and was in fine condition. He had been in the neigh- 

 borhood for nearly a week and possibly longer, and was frequently to be 

 heard calling or singing. The spot seemed to be to his taste, for my own 

 and the adjoining gardens afford an abundance of shade trees and shrub- 

 bery, while, separated only by a high board fence, is an extensive pile of 

 firewood and odds and ends of lumber the attractions of which he seems 

 to have been the first to discover. 



As far as I am aware this species has been captured in New England 

 beyond the limits of the Carolinian fauna, but three times before: at 

 Brookline (Nov. 4, 1883) and Lynn, Mass. (July 6, 1878), and at Rye 

 Beach, N. H. (Aug. 7, 18S0). In the present instance the habits of the 

 species, as well as the absence of violent storms for some time previous, 

 preclude all idea of the bird's having been swept away from his home and 

 dropped here by some cyclonic gale. In all probability it was simply a 

 case of that restless spirit of wandering that takes possession of most 

 ■non-migratory' species in the autumn, and which is very likely the sur- 

 viving remnant of a former habit of migration in such species. — C. F. 

 Batchelder, Cambridge, Mass. Auk, 9, J{ill, 1893. p, Z^^^^- 



Nesting of the Carolina Wren {Thryothorus ludovicianus) in Southern 

 Massachusetts. — My young friend Mr. Henry S. Forbes has kindly 

 given me permission to publish the following interesting extracts from 

 two letters which he has lately sent me. 



In his first letter, dated at Naushon on July 7, 1901, he says: "This 

 afternoon I had a most exciting bird experience. As I was riding through 

 the Naushon woods I heard a peculiar whistle wholly new to me. I 

 dismounted, tied my horse and followed up the sound. The author I 

 found was a bird of Wren-like appearance and of about the size of a Song 

 Spqrrow but shorter and stouter. It had a nervous habit of squatting 

 and jerking its body whenever it gave utterance to its whistled notes. 

 Presently its mate came with food in her bill and I went off to let both 

 birds settle down. As I was watching the male from a distance he 

 suddenly began a most delicious song. A few minutes later I found the 

 nest which contained three or four young nearly ready to fly. It was 

 placed on the ground in a hole among some dry leaves, undev the dead 

 branches of a fallen tree, and was partly roofed over with leaves. I did 

 not examine the interior of the nest closely as I did not wish to disturb 

 the young. I thought at the time the birds must be Carolina Wrens and 

 on coming home found that Mr. Chapman's description corresponded in 

 almost every respect with whafi had seen and heard. His representation 

 of the song as vjhee-udel, -ojhee-udel seems to me very good indeed." 



Under date of August 12, 1901, Mr. Forbes writes again as follows : 

 " Yesterday to my surprise a pair of Carolina Wrens appeared in the 

 garden behind our house and stayed there all day. The male (I suppose 

 sang several times and uttered a variety of queer notes, but the song did 

 not seem to have quite the same ring as when I heard it in the deep 

 woods. I wonder if this is the same' pair and if so where the young are. 

 When I revisited the nest a week after I found it, the whole family had 

 left the vicinity. I saw more clearly on this pair, the white or yellowish 

 line above the eye which the young in the nest had." 



Mr. Minot's record (Bull. N. O. C, Vol. I, No. 3, Sept., 1876, p. 76) of a 

 pair of Carolina Wrens" which he saw in Roxbury about July 4, 1876, and 

 that by Dr. Brewer [Ibid., Vol. Ill, No. 4, Oct., 1S78, p. 193), of a bird taken 

 in Lynn on July 6, 1878, have of course already led us to suspect that the 

 species occasionally breeds in eastern Massachusetts, but Mr. Forbes is,l 

 believe, the first observer who has been fortunate enough to definitely es- 

 tablish the fact. There would seem to be no reason why the birds should 

 not continue to resort to Naushon, for the grand old forest which covers 

 so large a part of that island is admirably suited to their requirements. 

 — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



Vuk:, XVril^ Oct., 1901, v^3*7,j?S. 



