Nesting of the Great Carolina Wren in Connecticut. — " Come up here 

 to-morrow morning and I will show you a bird's nest such as you never 

 saw before in the State of Connecticut" — such was the tenor of the mes- 

 sage which the mail brought me from Chester, Conn., last 15th of July, 

 under the hand of Mr. C. H. Watrous, that stirred my oological instincts. 

 I have a list of one hundred species whose nidification has fallen under my 

 observation in Connecticut, and here was an offer to introduce to rae 

 No. lOi. Of course I went, a passenger of the first morning train on the 

 Valley Road, which left me on the station platform of that enterprising 

 town which lies on the west shore of the Connecticut River, about ten 

 miles from its mouth. It was not in the wild woods, as I expected, but 

 out in the back yard, not fifteen rods from the house, that I was escorted 

 to an open shed, some dozen feet square, with roof of rough slabs laid 

 double and supported by four corner posts, and with three open sides and 

 one, the east, a rock. It was occupied by a small portable forge and anvil 

 and the usual tools of a smithy, evidently long out of use. The end of one 

 of the slabs of the roof, by the forces of decay, had fallen away from its 

 support several inches, and on the shelf so formed between it and the slab 

 above was the nest I had come to see; chiefly composed of decayed leaves, 

 weed stems, line rootlets, and rubbish, outwardly, and nearly filling the 

 space, lined with stems of maple seed, horse-hair, and pieces of snake-skin. 

 There was no tenant and neither welcome nor remonstrance greeted our 

 intrusion, and the only bird note the cheery song of a Red-eyed Vireo in 

 the tree that spread its shading arms over our heads. Finding seats 

 we waited quietly and patiently the greeting and salutation anticipated as 

 unwelcome guests intruding upon the family affairs of a stranger. Ten 

 minutes of quiet and a little bird flitted from the thicket near, to a branch 

 some fifteen feet away; for five minutes she remained quiet, motionless as 

 a statue, and watched the invaders of her domain ; she then descended to 

 the water pool near, took a drink and began chasing the insects around the 

 pool a few moments; then by short flights and leaps she drew near to her 

 visitors till she reached a perch on a small stone not three feet away from 

 us and watched us and our every motion, first with one eye and then with 

 the other, till some slight motion on our part sent her scurrying into the 

 thicket. It was a fine typical specimen of the Great Carolina Wren (Thryo- 

 thorus ludovicianus), and her nest contained five eggs typical of the spe- 

 cies, as found in the usual Carolina haunts. Mr. Watrous tells me that he 

 has observed the birds in that vicinity for several years ; that he saw the 

 nest and young reared near the same place in a brush heap last year, and 

 he has heard their inimitable song ringing out every month and every 

 week of the year! The birds were perfectly quiet throughout our inter- 

 view, no song of transport and no note of displeasure once met our ears. 

 This is the first proof I have ever received that this bird was a permanent 

 resident of Connecticut, and I believe this to be the first record of its nidifica- 

 tion in the State. —John N. Clark, Saybrook, Conn. 



Auk, XIX. Jan.. 1902. DP -9^. ^1' 



The Carolina Wren at New Haven, Conn. — The Carolina Wren {Thryo- 

 thorus ludovicianus) was reported as a rare resident at New Haven from 

 about 1901 to 1904, but so far as I am able to ascertain none have been 

 seen here since the severe winter of 1905-06 until December, 1908. On 

 the 25th of December, Mr. A. W. Honywill, Jr., saw one of these birds in 

 Edgewood Park. Four days later, on the 29th, I was attracted by the loud 

 song of a Carolina Wren and succeeded in positively identifying two indi- 

 viduals. These birds were in the same locality as the one seen on the 25th. 

 On January 2, 1909, I took a Carolina Wren only a few hundred yards 

 from the above mentioned Park, thus absolutely proving the presence of 

 the birds in this locality. — CLirFoaD H. Pangburn, New Haven, Conn. 



Auk 2Q, Apc-XBOO ,JD, ( f^ r 



