GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 
203 
their congenial tribe tlie AVoodpeckers, fcAV of them excel in song ; their 
tongues seem better calculated for extracting; noxious insects from the 
bark of trees, than for trilling out sprightly airs ; as the hardened 
hands of the husbandman are better suited for clearing tlie forest or 
guiding the plough, than dancing among the keys of a forte-piano. 
Which of the two is the most honorable and useful em])loyment 
is not difficult to determine. Let the farmer, therefore, respect this 
little bird for its useful qualities, in clearing his fruit and forest trees 
from destructive insects ; though it cannot serenade him with its song. 
The length of this sj^ecies is five inches and a half, extent seven and 
a half; crown white, bordered on each side with a band of black, which 
is again bounded by a line of white passing over each eye, below this is 
a large spot of black covering the ear feathers ; chin and throat black ; 
wings the same, crossed transversely by two bars of white ; breast and 
back streaked with black and white ; tail, upper and also under coverts, 
black, edged and bordered with white ; belly white ; legs and feet dirty 
yellow ; hind claw the longest, and all very sharp pointed ; bill a little 
compressed sidcAvise, slightly curved, black above, paler below ; tongue 
long, fine-pointed, and horny at the extremity. These last circum- 
stances, joined to its manners, characterize it, decisively, as a creeper. 
The female and young birds of tlie first year want the black on the 
throat, having that part of a grayish white. 
Species III. CERTHIA CAEOLINIANA* 
GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 
[Plate XII. Fig, 5.] 
Le Eoifelet de la Lnuisiane, PL Enl. 730, Fit;;. 1. — L.itii. Si/n. vir., p. 507, 'var. B. 
— Le Troglodytes de la Lniu'siaiie, Buff. v., p. 3G1. — Mofacilla Caroliniana 
(regulus magiius), Bartram, p. '291. f 
This is another of those equivocal species that so often occur to puz- 
zle the naturalist. The general appearance of this bird is such, that the 
most illiterate Avould at first sight call it a Wren; but the common 
Wren of Europe, and the Winter Wren of the United States, are both 
warblers, judging them according to the simple 2">i'inciple of Linnteus. 
The present species, however, and the following (tlie Marsh Wren), 
* Tliis anil tbe two following species -were placed by Latham in the i^enus Si/lvia, 
whence they have been removed by AVilson, without, apparently, sufficient reason. 
f We add the following synonymes: Motacilla troglodytes, var. y Gmel. vol. i., p. 
994. — Sylvia ludoviciana, Lath. Index Orii. sp. L50. 
