Plate XI. 
THRYOTHORUS L UDO ZICIANUS— Great Carolina Wren. 
The Carolina Wren is a very common resident, hut perhaps more plentiful in summer than in win- 
ter. It is possessor of an exceedingly attractive voice, and being indefatigable in its efforts to be heard, 
is well known and much admired. “Its song is really a remarkable performance. Mounting to the end 
of a fence rail, top of a stump, or even to the topmost branch of a solitary tree, it pours forth a 
succession of notes more varied and nearly as loud as the Brown Thrush. This song is prolonged until 
he seems to have silenced all the less gifted songsters in the neighborhood; then, with a downward 
flight, he seeks the retirement of his favorite thicket and the company of his approving mate. Its 
ordinary call note or alarm is a loud chirr-chirr, sometimes loud and harsh, sometimes low and soft, often 
prolonged. ... It has still another note, loud and emphatic, the most frequently heard of all, which 
an acquaintance renders, ‘ Jaeger cheats, J&eger cheats, Jaeger cheats.' These notes arc heard both in winter 
and summer; the prolonged performance is heard only in spring and early summer.” Nest-building may 
commence as early as the last of March, but usually not until April or May. Two, and sometimes three, 
broods are reared in the season. 
LOCALITY : 
Although this Wren appears shy and fond of secluded little nooks, it has so much curiosity, and 
such a manifest liking for the works and company of man, and the protection which his presence affords, 
that it is content to build beside the very door of his house if a foot of space is given up for its sole 
occupancy. Here the old bird may place her nest, courting shelter and imagining the seclusion in which 
she so much delights, cautiously slipping on and off, as if in groat fear some one might suspect that a 
Wren has an aim in life. Accordingly, the majority of nests are built ill the vicinity of towns and 
farm-houses, but the uninhabited woods are not entirely neglected. In thick timber-lands the birds are 
so wary, and the nests so difficult to find, that they may be more numerous than I imagine. 
To name the various localities in which the nest has been placed, would fill a volume, and wh ere it 
may yet be found would be equally laborious to determiue; so the naming of a few of the ordinary sit- 
uations must suffice. In the woods, the nest is found in old brush-piles, thick clumps of undergrowth, 
decayed logs and stumps, fence-corners, and similarly protected spots. In towns and about farm-houses, 
hav-mows, rafters, beams, window-sills, Martin-boxes, pump-spouts, pockets and sleeves of old coats hang- 
ing in any accessible place, jars, and tin-cans, are a few of the frequented sites. 
POSITION . 
The nest is, from the nature of the locality selected, usually supported by a flat surface from below ; 
but when such a place as a coat-sleeve is chosen, it may then receive its sole support from the sides, the 
material being packed so tightly that there is no danger of its slipping down ; when built in the hay in 
a mow or stack, a cavity is excavated to receive the materials, which are, in this case, held upon all 
61 
