Part 21

There are three strongly marked geographical varieties of “Bewick’s Wren,” separable by quite constant characters. Of these the Mexican (_leucogaster_) and the typical form from eastern North America (_bewickii_) differ most in coloration, while the western (_spilurus_) is intermediate in this respect, but with a longer bill than in the other two. The peculiarities of the three forms are expressed on page 141.

Thryothorus bewickii, var. bewickii, BONAP.

BEWICK’S WREN; LONG-TAILED HOUSE WREN.

_Troglodytes bewickii_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 96, pl. xviii.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 120, pl. cxviii. _Thryothorus bewickii_, BONAP. List, 1838.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 363. _Telmatodytes bewickii_, CAB. Mus. Hein. I, 1850, 78. _Thryothorus bewickii_, var. _bewickii_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 126.

SP. CHAR. 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.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States.

HABITS. This interesting species of Wren was first met with by Audubon in Louisiana. A number of individuals were observed at the time, but nothing of its history was known for several years afterward. In shape, color, and habits it most resembled the Carolina Wren, but was less rapid in movement, and not so lively. Fourteen years later Dr. Bachman again met with birds of this species, in 1835, at the Salt Sulphur Springs of Virginia. They comprised a family of two parents and five young, nearly full grown. Their notes were like those of the Winter Wren, neither louder nor more connected. They seemed of restless habit, creeping actively among fences, stumps, and logs. One ascended an oak, nearly to the top, in the manner of a Creeper. This species proved to be quite common in that locality, and to be the only Wren abundant among the mountains. Dr. Gibbs detected it near Columbia, S. C., and Dr. Trudeau afterwards found it quite common in Louisiana.

It was first observed breeding by Professor Baird in Carlisle, Penn., in 1844. In all respects the nests and their location corresponded with those of the common Wren. Dr. Woodhouse found it very abundant in the Indian Territory, and describes its habits as similar to those of other Wrens. Lieutenant Couch observed this Wren at Santa Rosalio in Mexico, early in March. It was seeking its food among the low prickly-pears. He was informed that they deposited their eggs wherever they could do so without making much of a nest, inside the cabins under the rafters, but in New Leon he found one of its nests quite elaborately constructed in a thatched roof. He describes the song as quite varied, and one of the sweetest that he heard in that country.

The late Dr. Gerhardt of Varnell’s Station, Ga., met with this species among the mountainous portions of Northern Georgia, where it generally nested in holes in stumps. In one instance the nest was constructed five inches in length, and four in diameter, with a cavity two inches in depth, and the walls of great proportionate thickness, made externally of coarse roots, finer on the inside, and lined with various kinds of animal fur and with feathers. Both birds worked together in constructing their nest, beginning on the 11th of April, and on the 27th of the same month this contained seven eggs. The nest was not covered at the top, in the manner of the Carolina Wren. In the following season another pair commenced building their nest in his bed, in a log-house. Driven from these impossible quarters, they tried the same experiment in various other parts of the house, but only to abandon it, and at last finished by making a successful attempt in the hay-loft. Their visits to that portion of Georgia, he informed me, were irregular and only occasional. In 1859 he had not met with any birds of this species for the space of five years.

The eggs measure .67 by .50 of an inch in their average proportions, resembling somewhat those of the Carolina Wren, but having a lighter ground, with fewer and finer markings of slate and reddish-brown. The ground-color is of a pinkish-white.

Mr. A. Boucard obtained specimens of these birds in the winter months, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, probably of the var. _leucogaster_.

We learn from Mr. Ridgway that in Southern Illinois (as far north as latitude 38° 20′ 20″) this Wren is very abundant, and the most familiar species of the family. In certain localities (as in the Valley of the Wabash) it entirely replaces the _Troglodytes ædon_, the latter being wholly unknown. In its habits it is even more familiar than that species, always preferring the out-buildings, even in large towns, to the neighborhood of the woods, and still further increases its attractions by possessing a charming song, a real _song_, of sweet notes finely modulated, and uttered, generally, as the bird perches upon a fence or the stable roof, its head thrown back, and its long tail pendent as it sings. The confused, gabbling sputter of _T. ædon_, uttered as it pauses just for an instant in its restless hopping through the ivy, cannot be compared to the chant of liquid musical notes of this species, which resembles more nearly, both in modulation and power, that of the Song Sparrow (_Melospiza melodia_), though far superior to it. On ordinary occasions the note of Bewick’s Wren is a soft, low _plit_, uttered as the bird hops about the fence or stable, its long tail carried upright, and jerked to one side at each hop. In its movements it is altogether more deliberate and less restless than the _T. ludovicianus_, or _Troglodytes ædon_, neither of which it much resembles in motion, and still less in notes. The nest of this Wren is usually built about the out-houses, a mortise-hole or some well-concealed corner being generally selected. Old stables and ash-hoppers are especially frequented as nesting-places. Mr. Ridgway found one in the bottom of the conical portion of a quail-net which was hung up in a shed, and another in a piece of stove-pipe which lay horizontally in the garret of a smoke-house; another rested upon a flat board over the door of an out-house, while a fourth was placed behind the weather-boarding of a building. The nest is generally very bulky, though the bulk is regulated to suit the size of the cavity in which the nest is placed. Its materials are usually sticks, straws, coarse feathers, fine chips, etc., exteriorly fastened together with masses of spider’s-webs, the lining being of finer and more downy materials, generally soft spider’s-webs, tow, and especially the downy feathers of barnyard fowls.

Thryothorus bewickii, var. leucogaster, GOULD.

_Troglodytes leucogastra_, GOULD, P. Z. S. 1836, 89 (Tamaulipas).— BON. Notes Delattre, 1854, 43. ? _Thryothorus bewickii_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 372 (Oaxaca). _Thryothorus bewickii_, var. _leucogaster_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 127.

SP. CHAR. Above ashy-brown; rump and middle tail-feathers brownish-ash, the former nearly pure ash; without appreciable bars; bars on secondaries obsolete. Beneath, including inside of wing, pure white, with little or no brownish on the sides. Crissum banded; ground-color of the quills and tail-feathers grayish-brown. Size of var. _bewickii_.

HAB. Southern borders of United States, into Mexico.

HABITS. Nothing is on record of the habits of this variety as distinguished from var. _bewickii_.

Thryothorus bewickii, var. spilurus, VIGORS.

_Troglodytes spilurus_, VIGORS, Zoöl. Beechey’s Voyage, 1839, 18, pl. iv, fig. 1 (California). _Thryothorus spilurus_, COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 69. _Troglodytes bewickii_, NEWBERRY, P. R. R. Rept. VI, IV, 1857, 80.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, IB. XII, II, 1860, 190. _Thryothorus bewickii_, SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 22, no. 141 (in part). _Thryothorus bewickii_, var. _spilurus_, BAIRD, Rev. 126.

SP. CHAR. Similar to _bewickii_ in color, the bill considerably longer. Length from nostril, .50, gape, .81, instead of .39 and .70.

HAB. Pacific slope of United States.

Young birds from all the localities differ from adults merely in having the feathers of the throat and breast very narrowly and inconspicuously edged with blackish.

HABITS. This variety of Bewick’s Wren is exclusively an inhabitant of the Western coast. According to Dr. Cooper, they abound throughout the wooded parts of California and northward, frequenting the densest forests as well as the open groves. During the winter they were found in the vicinity of Fort Mojave, but left in April, probably for the mountains. They also winter throughout the mild regions towards the coast as far north as Puget Sound. They are known as Mocking-Wrens, though Dr. Cooper thinks they do not really imitate other birds, but rather have a great variety of their own notes, some of which resemble those of other birds and are well calculated to deceive one unaccustomed to them. He was often led to search in vain for some new form, which he thought he heard singing, only to find it to be a bird of this species. Near San Diego, in April, 1862, he discovered one of its nests built in a low bush, only three feet from the ground. It was quite open above, formed of twigs, grass, etc., and contained five eggs just ready to hatch, described as white with brown specks near the larger end.

Messrs. Nuttall and Townsend observed these birds in the marshy meadows of the Wahlamet, accompanied by their young, as early as May. They seemed to have all the habits of Marsh Wrens. Drs. Gambel and Heermann, who observed them in California, describe them as keeping in low bushes and piles of brush, as well as about old dead trees and logs, over and around which they were flitting with the greatest activity, uttering, when approached, the usual grating scold of the Wrens.

In Washington Territory Dr. Cooper states that this and the Winter Wren are among the few birds that enliven the long rainy season with their songs, which were as constantly heard in the dullest weather as in the sunny spring. The young broods make their first appearance there in June. Dr. Suckley found this species very abundant at Puget Sound, where it is a constant resident throughout the year. On sunny days in January and in February it was found among low thickets in company with the smaller species. At this season they were very tame, allowing a person to approach them without apparent fear. He speaks of the voice of the male as being harsh and loud during the breeding-season, and not unlike that of the common House Wren.

GENUS TROGLODYTES, VIEILL.

_Troglodytes_, VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 52. (Type, _Troglodytes ædon_.)

The characters of this genus are sufficiently indicated in the synopsis on page 131. They come very close to those of _Thryothorus_, the nostrils, especially, being linear and overhung by a scale. In this respect both differ from _Thryophilus_ of Middle America. The bill is shorter or not longer than the head; straight, slender, and without notch. The tail is graduated, and shorter than the much rounded wings, the feathers narrow. The light superciliary line of _Thryothorus_ is almost entirely wanting.

Species and Varieties.

_a. Troglodytes._

Tail and wings about equal.

T. ædon. Beneath grayish-white. Crissum and flanks distinctly barred. Wing-coverts spotted with whitish. Dark bars of tail about half the width of their interspaces.

First primary nearly half the longest. Color above dark-brown, rufous towards tail. _Hab._ Eastern Province United States … var. _ædon_.

Wing similar. Above paler brown. _Hab._ Eastern Mexico, from Rio Grande southward … var. _aztecus_.

First primary half the second. Above paler brown. _Hab._ Middle and Western Province United States … var. _parkmanni_.

_b. Anorthura._

Tail very short; only about two thirds the wing.

T. hyemalis.

_a._ Size of _ædon_ except for shorter tail, wing about 2.00; culmen very straight. _Hab._ Aleutian Islands … var. _alascensis_.

_b._ Much smaller than _ædon_, wing about 1.75.

Pale reddish-brown; dusky bars of upper parts with whitish spots or interspaces. _Hab._ Eastern Province United States; Cordova? … var. _hyemalis_.

Dark rufous above and below; upper parts with few or almost no whitish spots. _Hab._ Pacific Province North America … var. _pacificus_.

Troglodytes ædon, VIEILL.

HOUSE WREN; WOOD WREN.

_Troglodytes ædon_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 52, pl. cvii.— IB. Nouv. Dict. XXXIV, 1819, 506.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 366; Rev. 138.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 22, no. 145.—MAYNARD, B. E. Mass. _Hylemathrous ædon_, Cab. Jour. 1860, 407. _Sylvia domestica_, WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 129, pl. vii. _Troglodytes fulvus_, NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 422. ? _Troglodytes americanus_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 452; V, 1839, 469, pl. clxxix.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 123, pl. cxix.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 368; Rev. I, 141. Other figures: AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. lxxxiii.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, pl. cxx.

SP. CHAR. Tail and wings about equal. Bill shorter than the head. Above reddish-brown, darker towards the head, brighter on the rump. The feathers everywhere, except on the head and neck, barred with dusky; obscurely so on the back, and still less on the rump. All the tail-feathers barred from the base; the contrast more vivid on the exterior one. Beneath pale fulvous-white, tinged with light brownish across the breast; the posterior parts rather dark brown, obscurely banded. Under tail-coverts whitish, with dusky bars. An indistinct line over the eye, eyelids, and loral region, whitish. Cheeks brown, streaked with whitish. Length, 4.90; wing, 2.08; tail, 2.00.

HAB. Eastern Province of the United States, from Atlantic to the Missouri River.

In the Review of American Birds (p. 139), I have established a variety, _aztecus_, to embrace specimens from Mexico paler than _ædon_, and with a brownish tinge on the breast, and smaller size.

There can scarcely be any doubt that the _T. americanus_ of Audubon is nothing more than this species in dark, accidentally soiled plumage (from charcoal of burnt trees, etc.).

[Line drawing: _Troglodytes ædon._ 28941]

HABITS. The common House Wren is found throughout the United States, from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, though it is not everywhere equally abundant. Thus, while in some parts of Massachusetts it occurs in considerable numbers every year, in other portions not twenty miles distant it is never seen. West of the Rocky Mountains it is replaced by Parkman’s Wren, which is rather a race than a distinct species, the differences in plumage being very slight, and in habits, nest, and eggs not appreciable, though Dr. Cooper thinks there is a difference in their song. Another race or a closely allied species, _T. aztecus_, is found in Mexico, near the borders of the United States, but does not have an extended range. It is found in the winter in Guatemala.

This species does not appear to be found beyond the southwestern portion of Maine and the southern portions of New Hampshire and Vermont. It makes its first appearance in Washington early in April, and for a while is very abundant, visiting very familiarly the public grounds of the capitol, private gardens, out-buildings, and the eaves of dwellings. It does not appear in the New England States until after the first week in May, and leaves for the South about the last of September. It is not observed in any portion of the United States after the first of November.

The hollows of decaying trees, crevices in rocks, or the centre of meshes of interlacing vines, are their natural resorts. These they readily relinquish for the facilities offered in the society of man. They are bold, sociable, confiding birds, and will enter into the closest relations with those who cultivate their acquaintance, building their nests from preference under the eaves of houses, in corners of the wood-shed, a clothes-line box, olive-jars, martin-boxes, open gourds, an old hat, the skull of an ox placed on a pole, the pocket of a carriage, or even the sleeve of an old coat left hanging in an out-building. In the spring of 1855 a pair of these Wrens nested within the house, and over the door of the room of the late Robert Kennicott, where they raised their broods in safety. They built a second nest on a shelf in the same room, which they entered through a knot-hole in the unceiled wall. At first shy, they soon became quite tame, and did not regard the presence of members of the family. The male bird was more shy than his mate, and though equally industrious in collecting insects would rarely bring them nearer than the knot-hole, where the female would receive them. The female with her brood was destroyed by a cat, but this did not deter the male bird from appearing the following season with another mate and building their nest in the same place. Another instance of a singular selection of a breeding-place has been given by the same authority. Dr. Kennicott, the father of Robert, a country physician, drove an old two-wheeled open gig, in the back of which was a box, a foot in length by three inches in width, open at the top. In this a pair of Wrens insisted, time after time, in building their nest. Though removed each time the vehicle was used, the pair for a long while persisted in their attempts to make use of this place, at last even depositing their eggs on the bare bottom of the box. It was two or three weeks before they finally desisted from their vain attempts.

Sometimes this bird will build a nest in a large cavity, holding perhaps a bushel. Before the cup of the nest is completed, the birds will generally endeavor to fill the entire space with sticks and various other convenient substances. Where the entrance is unnecessarily large they will generally contract it by building about it a barricade of sticks, leaving only a small entrance. In the midst of these masses of material they construct a compact, cup-shaped, inner nest, hemispherical in shape, composed of finer materials and warmly lined with the fur of small quadrupeds, and with soft feathers. If the eggs are taken as the female is depositing them, she will continue to lay quite a long while. In one instance eighteen were taken, after which the birds were let alone and raised a brood of seven.

During the months of May and June the male is a constant and remarkable singer. His song is loud, clear, and shrill, given with great animation and rapidity, the performer evincing great jealousy of any interruption, often leaving off abruptly in the midst of his song to literally “pitch in” upon any rival who may presume to compete with him.

If a cat or any unwelcome visitor approach the nest, angry vociferations succeed to his sprightly song, and he will swoop in rapid flights across the head or back of the intruder, even at the apparent risk of his life.

Where several pairs occupy the same garden, their contests are frequent, noisy, and generally quite amusing. In their fights with other birds for the possession of a coveted hollow, their skill at barricading frequently enables the Wrens to keep triumphant possession against birds much more powerful than themselves.

Their food is exclusively insectivorous, and of a class of destructive insects that render them great benefactors to the farmer. Mr. Kennicott ascertained that a single pair of Wrens carried to their young about a thousand insects in a single day.

The young, when they leave their nest, keep together for some time, moving about, an interesting, sociable, and active group, under the charge of their mother, but industrious in supplying their own wants.

The eggs of the Wren, usually from seven to nine in number, are of a rounded-oval shape, at times nearly as broad as long. Their ground-color is white, but they are so thickly studded with markings and fine spots of reddish-brown, with a few occasional points of purplish-slate, as to conceal their ground. Their shape varies from nearly spherical to an oblong-oval, some measuring .60 by .55 of an inch, others with the same breadth having a length of .67 of an inch.

Under the name of _Troglodytes americanus_, or Wood Wren, Mr. Audubon figured and described as a distinct species what is probably only a somewhat larger and darker form of the present species, hardly distinct enough to be treated even as a race. Mr. Audubon met with an individual near Eastport in 1832. The young were following their parents through the tangled recesses of a dark forest, in search of food. Others were obtained in the same part of Maine, near Dennisville, where Mr. Lincoln informed Mr. Audubon that this bird was the common Wren of the neighborhood, and that they bred in hollow logs in the woods, but seldom approached farm-houses.

In the winter following, at Charleston, S. C., Mr. Audubon again met individuals of this supposed species, showing the same habits as in Maine, remaining in thick hedges, along ditches in the woods, not far from plantations. The notes are described as differing considerably from those of the House Wren. It has not been seen by Mr. Boardman, though residing in the region where it is said to be the common Wren. Professor Verrill mentions it as a rare bird in Western Maine.

Mr. Charles S. Paine, of Randolph, Vt., is the only naturalist who has met with what he supposes were its nest and eggs. The following is his account, communicated by letter.

“The Wood Wren comes among us in the spring about the 10th or 15th of April, and sings habitually as it skips among the brush and logs and under the roots and stumps of trees. In one instance I have known it to make its appearance in midwinter, and to be about the house and barn some time. It is only occasionally that they spend the summer here (Central Vermont). The nest from which I obtained the egg you now have, I found about the first of July, just as the young were about to fly. There were five young birds and one egg. The nest was built on the hanging bark of a decaying beech-log, close under the log. A great quantity of moss and rotten wood had been collected and filled in around the nest, and a little round hole left for the entrance. The nest was lined with a soft, downy substance. I have no doubt that they sometimes commence to breed as early as the middle of May, as I have seen their young out in early June.”

Mr. Paine discredits the statement that they build their nests in holes in the ground. The egg referred to by Mr. Paine is oval in shape, slightly more pointed at one end, measuring .75 of an inch in length by .53 in breadth. The ground is a dead chalky-white, over which are sprinkled a few very fine dots of a light yellowish-brown, slightly more numerous at the larger end. This egg, while it bears some resemblance to that of the Winter Wren, is totally unlike that of the House Wren.

Troglodytes ædon, var. parkmanni, AUD.

PARKMAN’S WREN; WESTERN WOOD WREN.

_Troglodytes parkmanni_, AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 310.—IB. Synopsis, 1839, 76.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 133, pl. cxxii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 367; Rev. 140.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1860, 191 (nest).—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 23, no. 146.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 71. _Troglodytes sylvestris_, GAMBEL, Pr. A. N. Sc. III, 1846, 113 (California, quotes erroneously AUD. _T. americanus_).