A Carolina Wren in Middlesex Fells, Massachusetts. — On Novem- 

 ber 20, 1906, the call-notes of a wren were heard within the border of this 

 State Reservation on the Wyoming side, and upon investigation the bird 

 was found to be a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) . It was 

 moving in and about piles of cord wood laid up in the work of cutting out 

 and sawing the large pines and hemlocks which the gypsy moths have 

 killed. I stood with my back to one pile while the activity of the wren 

 about another pile was observed and enjoyed with keen interest. Pres- 

 ently it came over into the pile beside which I stood and worked in among 

 the sticks of wood and out onto the top within four or five feet of me, 

 affording views at very near range. The coloration was strong in its 

 reddish brown above, shading brighter from the crown to the rump, and 

 in its decided ochraceous-buff tint below; while when the head was thrown 

 back the throat showed almost clear white. Conspicuous over the eye 

 was the white line and clearly discernible were the white outer edges and 

 spottings of the wings. From the wood piles the wren moved up among 

 the sharp rocks of the hillside, going in and out of the holes between the 

 rocks. The following day it was again visited and found in the family 

 woodpile of the only house standing near and within the reservation. 

 Here it passed back and forth, in and out, from woodpile to refuse heap 

 of old blinds and fencing and through a cart-shed near by. Upon sub- 

 sequent visits of myself and friends up to November 29 the wren appeared 

 more shy and less disposed to afford good views of itself, remaining hidden 

 for an hour, it might be, without even uttering a call-note and then sud- 

 denly appearing. 



The last published records of Carolina Wrens in this vicinity are those 

 in Mr. William Brewster's valuable work on the ' Birds of the Cambridge 

 Region,' 1906, in which one is given as seen by Mr. Ralph Hoffmann on 

 May 4, 1902, in Belmont (Auk, Vol. XIX, p. 292), and one again March 7, 

 1903, about a mile distant from the previous locality, also in Belmont, 

 and continuing to be seen by local observers to the end of May, regarded 

 as perhaps the same bird as seen in 1902. Early in June, 1903, Mr. Wil- 

 liam P. Hadley killed a Carolina Wren on Arlington Heights, whither it 

 is thought this same bird may have strayed. Messrs. Howe and Allen 

 in their ' Birds of Massachusetts ' give six other records within the State 

 between the years 1876 and 1899 inclusive. To these are to be added 

 two later records in 'The Auk,' namely, one (Vol. XVIII, p. 397), giving 

 the first definite record of the species nesting in the State, namely, on 

 Naushon Island, July, 1901, and the other (Vol. XX, p. 69) giving Mr. 

 Owen Durfee's account of taking a young bird in juvenal plumage at Fall 

 River, Sept. 6, 1902. 



The Middlesex Fells bird would seem, therefore, to be the tenth which 

 has been recorded within the State in a period of thirty years. — Horace 



