310 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
spiders’ webs and lined with tow and soft feathers of barnyard fowls. 
The egg’s are usually seven to nine in number, but occasionally more, 
and are white, rather sparsely speckled round the larger end with brown.” 
Genus TROGLODYTES Vieillot. 
Troglodytes aedon Vieill. 
House Wren. 
Description (Plate 45 ). 
Length about 4f inches ; extent about 6f ; bill, legs and eyes brown, above brown, 
rusty on rump and tail; lower parts dull brownish-white or grayish-white ; more or 
less waved or barred with darker shades ; back very obscurely or not at all barred. 
Habitat .—Eastern United States and southern Canada, w*est to Indiana and 
Louisiana. 
Common summer resident. Arrives here usually about April 20, and 
remains until about the 1st of October. In Washington county Messrs. 
Compton, Warrick and Nease record this species as a rare summer resident. 
The common representative of this group in Washington county is the 
Carolina Wren, which is found there during all months of the year. Dur¬ 
ing the summer is found mostly about orchards and in shrubbery near 
buildings. When migrating these birds are often seen in woods, but 
they seldom breed there. The nest of twigs, wool, strings, feathers, 
hair, grasses, etc., is built in various odd places; holes in trees, boxes 
and hollow fence rails are the most usual building sites. They will 
build also in an old hat, the sleeves of an old coat or back of loose 
weather boards on buildings. In the summer of 1888, Mr. Geo. B. Sen- 
nett and the writer found a nest, with four young, built in a cavity in a 
sand bank along the roadside. The eggs, six to nine, mostly seven, 
measure about .65 long by .50 wide. They are pinkish or creamy- 
white, speckled with reddish-brown ; the brown markings are generally 
darker colored about the larger end, though the lighter ground color 
is often almost entirely hidden by the brown coloration. With us at 
least two broods are raised in a season. The House Wren feeds on 
beetles, spiders, flies, “ moth-flies,” grasshoppers and larvae. 
Troglodytes hiemalis Vieill 
Winter Wren. 
Description (Plate 72). 
Length about 4 ; extent about 6 inches ; upper bill, end of lower, tarsi and eyes 
brown, rest of lower bill and toes yellowish-brown. Above reddish-brown, darkest 
on head, brightest on rump and tail. Everywhere except on head and upper part 
of back with transverse bars of dusky and lighter ; lower parts pale reddish-brown ; 
belly, flanks and crissum strongly barred with blackish and whitish ; the outer 
