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PASSERIFORMES 
A very characteristic bird of the mountain streams. It dives or walks 
into the swiftly running water, disappears and reappears like a witch. Its 
nest is usually behind a waterfall and it dashes to or from it, through the 
falling veil, as indifferently as though a cataract were nothing. It is a 
winter as well as a summer resident and is as much at home on the slippery 
snowy margins and ice-draped rocks as on soft summer moss. 
Economic Status. Unfortunately the dipper has had laid against it 
well-substantiated charges of devouring large numbers of salmon eggs and 
small fry. As normally scattered, a pair here and another there throughout 
the summer, the damage done is probably slight, but when numbers con- 
gregate about restricted open waters in the winter time, especially in the 
neighbourhood of fish hatcheries, they are factors to be considered. Doubt- 
less local conditions must govern our attitude towards it. In the lonely 
mountain streams it is a rare attraction to the landscape, and should 
receive every protection; where it is economically objectionable it may be 
well to reduce the superabundance. A few dippers in their proper place 
add an air of wildness to the locality, but many in the wrong place may 
have an unpleasant effect. 
FAMILY — TKOGLODYTIDAE. WRENS 
The wrens are small brown birds living close to the ground. Though 
diminutive in size they are very energetic and except when brooding or 
asleep are rarely still. They may be recognized by their small size, brown 
coloration, small stubby tail often thrown up over the back, and their 
restless habits, winding in and out amongst the densest brush piles more 
like mice than birds. The wrens are a large family well distributed over 
the world, but better represented in species in the New than in the Old 
World. Their habitat varies from watery swamps to arid canyons and 
from open thickets to deep, dense woods. The family name Troglodytidae, 
cave-dwellers, is derived from their habit of nesting in holes. 
721. House Wren, le railleur on troglodyte domestique (Improprement 
Roitelet). Troglodytes aedon. L, 5. Plate LIII B. A slightly ashy brown wren, finely 
but softly vermiculated with dark brown on back and barred across tail and wings. Below 
creamy white, slightly browming across the breast and flanks and softly barred on the 
latter. 
Distinctions. An ashy brow r n wren creamy below, but without any strongly char- 
acterized markings. By habitat most likely to be confused with Bewick’s Wren of the 
southern British Columbia coast. It is a greyer brown with fine vermiculations on back 
and the whiteness of the underparts is strongest on the abdomen instead of on the throat. 
No eyebrow stripe as in Bewick’s or the Long-billed Marsh Wrens. No back striping as 
in the Short-billed and not strongly coloured below as is the Winter Wren. 
Field Marks. An ashy brown wren slightly vermiculated on back and flanks anti 
creamy white below, clearest on abdomen. No facial marks or striping anywhere. 
Nesting. In a hole in a tree, bird-box, or similar places, in a nest of twigs, lined 
with grasses, feathers, etc. The House Wren will occupy any kind of bird-house that 
is suitably placed. The English Sparrow can be kept away by making the entrance hole 
small; a one-inch auger hole is sufficient for a wren and will bar the sparrows entirely. 
Distribution. United States and southern Canada. In Canada, across the Dominion 
as far north as the heavy spruce forest region. 
SUBSPECIES. The Eastern House Wren (le Railleur ou Troglodyte domestique 
de l’Est) Troglodytes aedon aedon extends westward to or near the Manitoba line. The 
Western House Wren (le Railleur ou Troglodyte domestique de l’Ouest) Troglodytes 
aedon parkmani , slightly paler and greyer, with the back a little more distinctly barred, 
occupies the country farther west. The distinctions are fine, however, and the division 
between the ranges is not well marked. 
