139 



WINTER WREN. 

 SYLVIA TROGLODYTES? 

 [Plate VIII.— Fig. 6.] 



Motacilla troglodytes? Linn. — Peale's ikTwrn/???, No. 7284. 



THIS little stranger visits us from the north in the month of 

 October, sometimes remaining with us all the winter, and is always 

 observed early in spring on his route back to his breeding place. 

 In size, color, song and manners he approaches nearer to the Eu- 

 ropean Wren (M. troglodytes), than any other species we have. 

 During his residence here he frequents the projecting banks of 

 creeks, old roots, decayed logs, small bushes and rushes near 

 watery places ; he even approaches the farm-house, rambles about 

 the wood-pile, creeping among the interstices like a mouse. With 

 tail erect, which is his constant habit, mounted on some project- 

 ing point or pinnacle, he sings with great animation. Even in the 

 yards, gardens and outhouses of the city, he appears familiar, and 

 quite at home. In short, he possesses almost all the habits of the 

 European species. He is, however, migratory, which may be owing 

 to the superior coldness of our continent. Never having met with 

 the nest and eggs, I am unable to say how nearly they approximate 

 to those of the former. 



I can find no precise description of this bird, as an American 

 species, in any European publication. Even some of our own na^ 

 turalists seem to have confounded it with another very different 

 bird, the Marsh Wren* which arrives in Pennsylvania from the 



* See Professor Barton's observations on this subject, under the article Motacilla Trog- 

 lodytes ? " Fragments," &c. p. 18, Ibid. p. 12. 



