COMMON BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. 
7 
CAROLINA WREN. 1 
Spiders are acceptable and are captured every month in the season. The wren finds 
these when searching under piles of lumber or brush, stone walls, hollow logs, out¬ 
houses, and sheds. They aggregate 10.51 per cent of the food, and in March 32.5 per 
cent. Millepeds (thousand-legs) form a part (2.70 per cent) of the food of the first four 
months of the year, six-sevenths of them being eaten in April. Other creatures, 
as sowbugs and snails, were found in a few stomachs, but are a negligible quantity. 
No accusation has been brought against the wren that it harms fruit or other farm 
products. Both field observation and stomach examination show that it consumes 
great numbers of noxious 
insects, thereby benefiting 
the farmer and gardener. 
It is a cheery, bustling 
little creature to have 
about the homestead and 
should be thoroughly pro¬ 
tec ted. Put up a box 
where cats can not get at 
it and the wren will pay 
good rent.— f. e. l. b. 
The Carolina wren (fig. 
3) is resident from the 
Gulf of Mexico north to 
the southern boundaries of 
Iowa, Illinois, and Con¬ 
necticut in the breeding 
season, but in winter with¬ 
draws somewhat farther 
south. It is a bird of the 
thicket and undergrowth, 
preferring to place its nest 
in holes and crannies but 
when necessary will build 
a bulky structure in a 
tangle of twigs and vines. 
Unlike the house wren it 
does not ordinarily use 
the structures of man for 
nesting sites. It is one of 
the few American birds 
that sing throughout the 
year. Most birds sing, or 
try to, in the mating sea¬ 
son, but the Carolina wren 
may be heard pouring 
forth his melody of song 
every month. Thetvriter’s 
first introduction to this bird was in the month of January when he heard gushing 
from a thicket a song which reminded him of June instead of midwinter. 
This wren keeps up the reputation of the family as an insect eater, as over nine- 
tenths of its diet consists of insects and their allies. In this investigation of its food 
Fig. 3.—Carolina wren. Length, about 5£inches. 
B2 143-67 
i Thryothorm ludovicianus . 
