118 
GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 
I found it very numerous in the Floridas and all along the coast of the 
Mexican Gulf to within the Texas, where it spends the whole year. Mr. 
Townsend mentions it as being found on the Missouri. 
The dwarf buck-eye , on a blossomed twig of which this pair of Great 
Carolina Wrens are placed, is by nature as well as name a low shrub. It 
grows near swampy ground in great abundance. Its flowers, which are 
scentless, are much resorted to by Humming-birds, on their first arrival, 
as they appear at a very early season. The wood resembles that of the 
common horse-chestnut , and its fruit is nearly the same in form and colour, 
but much smaller. I know of no valuable property possessed by this beau- 
tiful shrub. 
Great Carolina Wren, Certhia Caroliniana , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 61. 
Troglodytes ludovicianus, Bonap. Syn., p. 93. 
Great Carolina Mocking Wren, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 429. 
Great Carolina Wren, Troglodytes ludovicianus , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 399 ; 
vol. v. p. 466. 
Adult Male. 
Bill nearly as long as the head, subulato-conical, slightly arched, com- 
pressed towards the tip; upper mandible with the sides convex towards the 
end, concave at the base, the edges acute and overlapping ; under mandible 
with the back and sides convex. Nostrils oblong, straight, basal, with a 
cartilaginous lid above, open and bare. Head oblong, neck of ordinary size, 
body ovate. Legs of ordinary length ; tarsus longer than the middle toe, 
compressed, anteriorly scutate, posteriorly edged ; toes, scutellate above, 
inferiorly granulate ; second and fourth nearly equal, the hind toe almost as 
long as the middle one, third and fourth united as far as the second joint ; 
claws long, slender, acute, arcuate, much compressed. 
Plumage soft, lax, and tufty. Wings short, very convex, broad and 
rounded, the first quill very short, the fourth longest. Tail rather long, 
curved downwards, much rounded, of twelve narrowish, rounded feathers. 
Bill wood-brown above, bluish beneath. Iris hazel. Legs flesh-colour. 
The general colour of the upper part is brownish- red. A yellowish-white 
streak over the eye, extending far down the neck, and edged above with 
dark brown. Quills, coverts, and tail barred with blackish-brown ; secondary 
and middle coverts tipped with white ; shafts of the scapulars white. Throat 
greyish-white, under parts reddish-buff, paler behind. Under tail-coverts 
white, barred with blackish. 
Length 5J inches, extent of wings 7£ ; bill along the ridge I, along the 
gap H ; tarsus f . 
Adult Female. 
