422 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
Subgenus. — Troglodytes (or Proper Wrens.) 
In these birds the middle toe is rather long, and the nails of mod- 
erate length. In the Common Wren the bill is also somewhat straight. 
These are remarkable for their almost domestic habits, building 
often from preference about houses, either empty or inhabited ; they 
also sing agreeably ; species of which exist in both continents. 
HOUSE WREN. 
{Troglodytes fulvus, Bonap. T. aedon , Vieill. Audubon, Orn. 
Biog. i. p. 427. pi. 83, (truly admirable.) Sylvia domestica , Wil- 
son, i. p. 129. pi. 8, fig. 3. Sylvia furva, ( fulva ?) Lath. Phil. 
Museum, No. 7283.) 
Sp. Charact. — Dark brown, banded with blackish; beneath dull 
pale grey, with obsolete indices of bands ; the tail rather long and 
rounded. 
This lively, cheerful, capricious, and well known little 
minstrel is only a summer resident in the United States. 
Its northern migrations extend to Labrador. But it re- 
sides and rears its young principally in the Middle 
States. My friend, Mr. Say, also observed this species 
near Pembino, beyond the sources of the Mississippi, 
