BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
309 
Thryothorus bewickii (Aud.). 
Bewick’s Wren. 
Description. 
“Above dark rufous-brown ; rump and middle tail-feathers sometimes a little 
paler, and very slightly tinged with gray and together with the exposed surface of 
secondaries distinctly barred with dusky. Beneath soiled plumbeous-whitish ; 
flanks brown. Crissum banded ; ground color of quills and tail-feathers brownish- 
black. Length 5.50; wing 2.25 ; tail 2.50. Length from nostril .39 ; along gape .70.” 
{Hist. N. Am. B .) 
Habitat .—Eastern United States, to Eastern Texas and the eastern border of the 
Plains ; north to New Jersey and Minnesota. 
Rare summer resident in the eastern and central portions of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and not reported as occurring in any of the northern counties, but 
in some of the southwestern counties, beyond the mountains, it is said 
to be tolerably frequent. From personal observation I am unable to give 
any information concerning this species, relative to which the following 
interesting remarks are borrowed from Robert Ridgway’s Ornithology of 
Illinois: “ No bird more deserves the protection of man than Bewick’s 
Wren. He does not need man’s encouragement, for he comes of his own 
accord and installs himself as a member of the community wherever it 
suits his taste. He is found about the cow-shed and bam along with the 
Pewee and Barn Swallow; he investigates the pig-sty; then explores 
the garden fence, and finally mounts to the roof and pours forth one of 
the sweetest songs that ever was heard. Not a voluble gabble, like the 
House Wren’s merry roundelay, but a fine, clear, bold song, uttered as 
the singer sits with head thrown back and long tail pendent,—a song 
which may be heard a quarter of a mile or more, and in comparison 
with which the faint chant of the Song Sparrow sinks into insignifi¬ 
cance. The ordinary note is a soft low plit, uttered as the bird hops 
about, its long tail carried erect or even leaning forward, and jerked to 
one side at short intervals. In its movements it is altogether more de¬ 
liberate than either T. ludovicianus or T. aedon, but nothing can excel 
it in quickness when it is pursued. 
“ The nest of Bewick’s Wren is placed in all sorts of odd places. Usu¬ 
ally it is in a mortise-hole of a beam or joist, or some well-concealed 
corner. One was beneath the board covering of an ash-hopper; another 
in a joint of stove pipe which lay horizontally across two joists in the 
garret of a smoke-house; a third was behind the weather-boarding of 
an ice-house, while a fourth was in the bottom of the conical portion of 
a quail-net that had been hung up against the inner side of a buggy- 
shed. None of these nests would have been found had not the bird been 
seen to enter. The nest is generally very bulky, though its size is regu¬ 
lated by that of the cavity in which it is placed. Its materials consist 
of sticks, straw, coarse feathers, fine chips, etc., matted together with 
