Part 22

HAB. Western and Middle Provinces of United States. East to the Missouri River. Western Arizona, COUES.

Although the differences between the eastern and western House Wrens, as stated in the Birds of North America, are not very appreciable, yet a comparison of an extensive series shows that they can hardly be considered as identical. The general color of _parkmanni_ above is paler and grayer, and there is little or none of the rufous of the lower back and rump. The bars on the upper surface are rather more distinct. The under parts are more alike, as, while ædon sometimes has flanks and crissum strongly tinged with rufous, other specimens are as pale as in _T. parkmanni_.

Perhaps the most appreciable differences between the two are to be found in the size and proportions of wing and tail. The wing in _parkmanni_ is quite decidedly longer than in _ædon_, measuring, in males, 2.12 to 2.15, instead of 2.00 to 2.05. This is due not so much to a larger size as to a greater development of the primaries. The first quill is equal to or barely more than half the second in _parkmanni_; and the difference between the longest primary and the tenth amounts to .32 of an inch, instead of about .20 in _ædon_, where the first quill is nearly half the length of the third, and much more than half the length of the second.

HABITS. This western form, hardly distinguishable from the common House Wren of the Eastern States, if recognized as a distinct species, is its complete analogue in regard to habits, nest, eggs, etc. It was first obtained by Townsend on the Columbia River, and described by Audubon in 1839. It has since been observed in various parts of the country, from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Coast, and from Cape St. Lucas to Oregon.

Dr. Cooper, in his Birds of Washington Territory, speaks of this Wren as common about Puget Sound, where it appeared to be much less familiar than our common Wren, though its habits and song seemed to be very similar. It there frequented chiefly the vicinity of woods and piles of logs, neither seeking nor dwelling in the vicinity of houses. It arrives there about the 20th of April. As observed about Vancouver in 1853, its song appeared to Dr. Cooper different from that of the _T. ædon_. He found one of their nests built in a horse’s skull that had been stuck upon a fence. Dr. Suckley, who observed these birds about Fort Steilacoom, describes their voice as harsh and unmusical.

Dr. Cooper has since observed them in California, and in the winter, in the Colorado Valley, where they roosted at night under the eaves of the garrison buildings. They make their appearance at San Francisco as early as March 16, and nest at San Diego in April. He has found their nests in hollow trees at various heights, from five to forty feet, all composed of a floor and barricade of long dry twigs, grass, and bark, loosely placed, but so interwoven as to leave only just space for the birds to squeeze in over them. They are warmly lined with a large quantity of feathers. Their eggs he gives as from five to nine in number.

The late Mr. Hepburn has furnished more full and exact information in regard to this species. We give it in his own words.

“The _T. parkmanni_ is the common wren of Vancouver Island, far more so than of California, where I have found the Bewick’s Wren (_T. bewickii_) much more numerous. Parkman’s Wren builds its nest in hollow trees in Vancouver Island, about the middle of May, forming it of small sticks laid at the bottom of the hole, neatly and comfortably lining it on the inside with feathers that arch over the eggs. It will also readily avail itself of any similar and equally convenient cavity. I have known these birds to build under the roof of a frame house, entering by a hole between the topmost board and the shingles; also in a hole in a gate-post, through which gate people were continually passing; and also over a doorway, getting in by a loose board, in a place where the nest could be reached by the hand. In 1852 I put a cigar-box, with a hole cut in one end, between the forks of a tree in a garden at Victoria. A pair of Wrens speedily took possession of it and formed their nest therein, laying seven eggs, the first on the 18th of May. The eggs of this Wren are white, thickly freckled with pink spots, so much so in some specimens as to give a general pink appearance to the egg itself, but forming a zone of a darker hue near the larger end. They are .81 of an inch in length by .50 in width.”

Their eggs resemble those of the _T. ædon_ so as to be hardly distinguishable, yet on comparing several sets of each there seem to be these constant differences. The spots of the western species are finer, less marked, more numerous, and of a pinker shade of reddish-brown. The eggs, too, range a little smaller in size, though exhibiting great variations. In one nest the average measurement of its seven eggs is .60 by .50, that of another set of the same number .70 by .50 of an inch.

In all respects, habits, manners, and notes, Parkman’s Wren is a perfect counterpart of the eastern House Wren. In the country east of the Sierra Nevada it almost wholly replaces the western Bewick’s Wren (_Thryothorus bewickii_, var. _spilurus_), and inhabits any wooded localities, as little preference being given to the cottonwoods of the river valleys as to the aspen groves high up in the mountains.

Troglodytes parvulus, var. hyemalis, VIEILL.

WINTER WREN.

_Sylvia troglodytes_, WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 139, pl. viii, f. 6. _Troglodytes hyemalis_, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XXXIV, 1819, 514.—AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 430, pl. ccclx.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 128, pl. cxxi.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 369; Rev. 144.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 290 (Cordova, Mex.).—IB. Catal. 1861, 23, no. 152.—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 73.

SP. CHAR. Bill very straight, slender, and conical; shorter than the head. Tail considerably shorter than the wings, which reach to its middle. Upper parts reddish-brown; becoming brighter to the rump and tail; everywhere, except on the head and upper part of the back, with transverse bars of dusky and of lighter. Scapulars and wing-coverts with spots of white. Beneath pale reddish-brown, barred on the posterior half of the body with dusky and whitish, and spotted with white more anteriorly; outer web of primaries similarly spotted with pale brownish-white. An indistinct pale line over the eye. Length, about 4 inches; wing, 1.66; tail, 1.26.

HAB. North America generally. South to Cordova, Mex.

Western specimens may be separated as a variety _pacificus_ (BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 145), based on the much darker colors and the almost entire absence of the whitish spots among the dark bars. The under parts are more rufous; the tarsi are shorter, the claws larger, the bill straighter and more slender.

The Winter Wren is very closely related to the common Wren (_T. parvulus_, KOCH) of Europe, so much so, in fact, that the two almost seem to be varieties of one species. The differences, as shown in a large series from both continents, are the following: In _T. parvulus_ there is a tendency to more uniform shades; and the prevailing tint anteriorly, beneath, is a pale yellowish-ash, almost immaculate, instead of brownish-ochraceous, showing minute specks and darker edges to the feathers. In extreme specimens of _T. parvulus_ the bars even on the tail and wings (except primaries, where they are always distinct) are very obsolete, while on the lower parts they are confined to the flanks and crissum. Sometimes, however, specimens of the two are found which are almost undistinguishable from each other. In fact, it is only by taking the plainer European birds and comparing them with the darker American examples from the northwest coast, that the difference between _T. parvulus_ and _T. hyemalis_ is readily appreciable.

HABITS. The Winter Wren, nowhere very abundant, seems to be distributed over the whole of North America. Hardly distinguishable from the common Wren of Europe, it can scarcely be considered as distinct. The habits of our species certainly seem to be very different from those assigned to the European bird, which in England appears to be as common and as familiar a bird as even the Redbreast. The small size and retiring habits of our species, as well as its unfrequent occurrence, and only in wild places, combine to keep its history in doubt and obscurity. It is supposed to be northern in its distribution during the breeding-season, yet only a single specimen was obtained by Sir John Richardson, and that on the northern shores of Lake Huron.

On the Pacific coast Dr. Cooper regarded the Winter Wren as the most common species in the forests of Washington Territory, where it frequented even the densest portions, and where its lively song was almost the only sound to be heard. It was most commonly seen in winter, retiring in summer to the mountains to breed. He observed young birds on the Coast Mountains in July.

Dr. Suckley also states that this Wren was found at Fort Steilacoom more abundantly in the winter than any other species. It was very unsuspicious, allowing a very near approach. The dense fir forests, among fallen logs, were its usual places of resort during the long, damp, and dreary winters of Oregon. Dr. Suckley regarded the habits of this species and those of the Parkman Wren as nearly identical. Mr. Bischoff obtained four specimens in Sitka.

Mr. Audubon found this species at Eastport, on the 9th of May, in full song and quite abundant. A month later he found them equally plentiful in the Magdalen Islands, and afterwards, about the middle of July, in Labrador. He described its song as excelling that of any bird of its size with which he was acquainted, being full of cadence, energy, and melody, and as truly musical. Its power of continuance is said to be very surprising.

The characteristics of the Winter Wren are those of the whole family. They move with rapidity and precision from place to place, in short, sudden hops and flights, bending downward and keeping their tails erect. They will run under a large root, through a hollow stump or log, or between the interstices of rocks, more in the manner of a mouse than of a bird.

The writer has several times observed these Wrens on the steep sides of Mount Washington, in the month of June, moving about in active unrest, disappearing and reappearing among the broken masses of granite with which these slopes are strewn. This was even in the most thickly wooded portions. Though they evidently had nests in the neighborhood, they could not be discovered. They were unsuspicious, could be approached within a few feet, but uttered querulous complaints if one persisted in searching too long in the places they entered.

This Wren, as I am informed by Mr. Boardman, is a common summer resident near Calais, Me.

Mr. Audubon met with its nest in a thick forest in Pennsylvania. He followed a pair of these birds until they disappeared in the hollow of a protuberance, covered with moss and lichens, resembling the excrescences often seen on forest trees. The aperture was perfectly rounded and quite smooth. He put in his finger and felt the pecking of the bird’s bill and heard its querulous cry. He was obliged to remove the parent bird in order to see the eggs, which were six in number. The parent birds made a great clamor as he was examining them. The nest was seven inches in length and four and a half in breadth. Its walls were composed of mosses and lichens, and were nearly two inches in thickness. The cavity was very warmly lined with the fur of the American hare and a few soft feathers. Another nest found on the Mohawk, in New York, was similar, but smaller, and built against the side of a rock near its bottom.

Mr. William F. Hall met with the nest and eggs of this bird at Camp Sebois in the central eastern portion of Maine. It was built in an unoccupied log-hut, among the fir-leaves and mosses in a crevice between the logs. It was large and bulky, composed externally of mosses and lined with the fur of hedge-hogs, and the feathers of the spruce partridge and other birds. It was in the shape of a pouch, and the entrance was neatly framed with fine pine sticks. The eggs were six in number, and somewhat resembled those of the _Parus atricapillus_. The female was seen and fully identified.

In this nest, which measured five and three quarters inches by five in breadth, the size, solidity, and strength, in view of the diminutive proportions of its tiny architect, are quite remarkable. The walls were two inches in thickness and very strongly impacted and interwoven. The cavity was an inch and a quarter wide and four inches deep. Its hemlock framework had been made of green materials, and their strong and agreeable odor pervaded the structure. The eggs measured .65 by .48 of an inch, and were spotted with a bright reddish-brown and a few pale markings of purplish-slate, on a pure white ground. Compared with the eggs of the European Wren their eggs are larger, less oval in shape, and the spots much more marked in their character and distinctness.

Troglodytes parvulus, var. alascensis, BAIRD.

ALASKA WREN.

_Troglodytes alascensis_, BAIRD, Trans. Chicago Acad. Sc. I, ii, 315, pl. xxx, fig. 3, 1869.—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—FRIESCH, Ornith. N. W. Amerikas, 1872, 30.

SP. CHAR. ♂ ad., 61,329, Amaknak Island, Unalaschka, Oct. 21, 1871; W. H. Dall. Above umber-brown, more rufescent on the wings, rump, and tail; secondaries and tail-feathers showing indistinct transverse dusky bars; primaries about equally barred with blackish and dilute umber or brownish-white; middle-coverts tipped with a small white dot, preceded by a black one. Lower part, including a rather distinct superciliary stripe, pale ochraceous-umber; sides, flanks, abdomen, and crissum distinctly barred with dusky and whitish on a rusty ground; crissum with sagittate spots of white. Wing, 2.20; tail, 1.60; culmen, .65; tarsus, .75.

HAB. Aleutian and Pribylow Islands, Alaska.

The specimen above described represents about the average of a large series obtained on Amaknak Island by Mr. Dall. They vary somewhat among themselves as regards dimensions, but all are very much larger than any specimens of _T. hyemalis_, from which it also differs in longer, straighter, and more subulate bill (the gonys slightly ascending). The type specimen from St. George’s Island was immature, and we embrace the opportunity of giving the description of an adult sent down with several others in the autumn of 1871 by Mr. Dall from Unalaschka.

This form bears the same relation to _T. hyemalis_ that _Melospiza unalaschkensis_ does to _M. melodia_; _T. pacificus_, like _M. rufina_, being an intermediate form.

HABITS. Of this new variety, the Alaska Wren, but little is as yet known as to its personal history. Mr. Dall states that it is found in abundance all the year round on St. George’s Island, and that it breeds in May, building a nest of moss in the crevices of the rocks, and, according to the Aleuts, lays six eggs. Mr. Dall subsequently found it quite common at Unalaschka in the summer of 1871.

GENUS CISTOTHORUS, CABAN.

_Cistothorus_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 77. (Type, _Troglodytes stellaris_.) _Telmatodytes_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 78. (Type, _Certhia palustris_.) _Thryothorus_, VIEILLOT, Analyse, 1816, according to G. R. Gray.

[Line drawing: _Cistothorus palustris._ 1454 ♂]

GEN. CHAR. Bill about as long as the head or much shorter, much compressed, not notched, gently decurved from the middle; the gonys slightly concave or straight. Toes reaching to the end of the tail. Tarsus longer than the middle toe. Hind toe longer than the lateral, shorter than the middle. Lateral toes about equal. Hind toe longer than or equal to its digit. Wings rather longer than the tail, all the feathers of which are much graduated; the lateral only two thirds the middle. The feathers narrow. Back black, conspicuously streaked with white.

Of this genus there are two sections, _Cistothorus_ proper and _Telmatodytes_, the diagnoses of which have already been given. The two North American species present the feature, unique among our Wrens, of white streaks on the back.

A. Cistothorus. Bill half length of head. No white superciliary streak. Head and rump and back streaked with white. Tail dusky, barred with brown … _C. stellaris._

B. Telmatodytes. Bill length of head. A white superciliary stripe. Back alone streaked with white. Tail-feathers black, barred with whitish … _C. palustris._

Cistothorus stellaris, CABAN.

SHORT-BILLED MARSH-WREN.

_Troglodytes stellaris_, “LICHT.” NAUMANN, Vögel Deutschlands, III, 1823, 724 (Carolina). _Cistothorus stellaris_, CAB. Mus. Hein. 77.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 365; Rev. 146.—SCLATER, Catal. 22, no. 142 (in part). _Troglodytes brevirostris_, NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 436.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 427, pl. clxxv.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 138, pl. cxxiv. _C. elegans_, SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 8.

SP. CHAR. Bill very short, scarcely half the length of the head. Wing and tail about equal. Hinder part of the crown and the scapular and interscapular region of the back and rump almost black, streaked with white. Tail dusky, the feathers barred throughout with brown (the color grayish on the under surface). Beneath white; the sides, upper part of breast, and under tail-coverts reddish-brown. Upper parts, with the exceptions mentioned, reddish-brown. Length, 4.50; wing, 1.75; tail, 1.75.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States, west to Loup Fork of Platte.

There is a closely allied variety from Mexico and Guatemala (_C. elegans_, SCLATER & SALVIN, Pr. Z. S., 1859, 8) which differs in the characters stated below.

White dorsal streaks extending to the rump, which is conspicuously banded with brown, and somewhat spotted with whitish. Beneath, including lining of wings, light cinnamon-brown; throat and belly paler, almost white; sides and crissum very obsoletely barred with darker, and faintly spotted with whitish. Feathers of jugulum like sides, but with the color obscured by the paler edges. Tarsus, .65 long. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States … _C. stellaris._

Streaks on back confined to interscapular region; rump and upper tail-coverts almost plain reddish-brown. Beneath much paler than in _stellaris_, without any appreciable indication of bars or spots on sides and crissum, or of the fulvous of the jugular feathers. Inside of wings snowy-white. Tarsus, .72 long. _Hab._ Mexico and Guatemala; Brazil? … _C. elegans._

The differences between these two varieties are just barely appreciable when specimens of the two, of corresponding seasons, are compared. Two Mexican examples (_elegans_) differ more from each other than one does from North American specimens; because one (a typical specimen received from Salvin) is in the worn, faded, midsummer plumage, and the other in the perfect autumnal dress. Besides the longer tarsi of these Mexican birds, their tails, and even their bills, are longer than seen in North American skins. But while these differences between the North American and Mexican birds are just appreciable, there is one from Brazil (51,017, Sr. Don Fred. Albuquerque) which is exactly intermediate between these two varieties in color, while in size it is even smaller than the North American ones, measuring as follows: wing, 1.60; tail, 1.60; culmen, .45, tarsus, .61.

Even if recognizable as belonging to different varieties, these specimens are certainly all referable to one species.

HABITS. The Short-billed Marsh Wren is very irregularly distributed throughout the United States, being found from Georgia to the British Provinces, and from the Atlantic to the Upper Missouri. It is nowhere abundant, and in many large portions of intervening territory has never been found.

It is exclusively an inhabitant of low, fresh-water marshes, open swamps, and meadows, is never found on high ground, and is very shy and difficult of approach. It makes its first appearance in Massachusetts early in May, and leaves early in September. In winter it has been found in all the Gulf States, from Florida to Texas.

According to Nuttall, this Wren has a lively and quaint song, delivered earnestly and as if in haste, and at short intervals, either from a tuft of sedge or from a low bush on the edge of a marsh. When approached, the song becomes harsher and more hurried, and rises into an angry and petulant cry. In the early part of the season the male is quite lively and musical. These Wrens spend their time chiefly in the long, rank grass of the swamps and meadows searching for insects, their favorite food.

Their nest is constructed in the midst of a tussock of coarse high grass, the tops of which are ingeniously interwoven into a coarse and strong covering, spherical in shape and closed on every side, except one small aperture left for an entrance. The strong wiry grass of the tussock is also interwoven with finer materials, making the whole impervious to the weather. The inner nest is composed of grasses and finer sedges, and lined with soft, vegetable down. The eggs are nine in number, pure white, and rather small for the bird. They are exceedingly delicate and fragile, more so than is usual even in the eggs of Humming-Birds. They are of an oval shape, and measure .60 by .45 of an inch.

Mr. Nuttall conjectured that occasionally two females occupied the same nest, and states that he has known the male bird to busy itself in constructing several nests, not more than one of which would be used. As these birds rear a second brood, it is probable that these nests are built from an instinctive desire to have a new one in readiness for the second brood. This peculiarity has been noticed in other Wrens, where the female sometimes takes possession of the new abode, lays and sits upon her second set of eggs before her first brood are ready to fly, which are left to the charge of her mate.

Mr. Audubon found this Wren breeding in Texas. Dr. Trudeau met them on the marshes of the Delaware River, and their nest and eggs have been sent to us from the Koskonong marshes of Wisconsin. It has also been found in the marshes of Connecticut River, near Hartford; and in Illinois Mr. Kennicott found it among the long grasses bordering on the prairie sloughs.

In Massachusetts I have occasionally met with their nests, but only late in July, when the rank grass of the low meadows has been cut. These were probably their second brood. The nest being built close to the ground, and made of the living grasses externally, they are not distinguishable from the unoccupied tussocks that surround them.

Cistothorus palustris, BAIRD.

LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN.

Var. palustris.

_Certhia palustris_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 58, pl. xii, fig. 4 (Penna). _Troglodytes palustris_, BON. Obs. Wils. 1824, no. 66.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 500, pl. c.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 135, pl. cxxiii.—REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 5 (Godthaab, Greenland). _Thryothorus palustris_, NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 439. _Cistothorus (Telmatodytes) palustris_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 364; Rev. 147.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 22. _Thryothorus arundinaceus_, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XXXIV, 1819, 58 (not _Trog. arundinaceus_, VIEILLOT). _Thryothorus arundinaceus_, BON. Consp. 1850, 220. _Telmatodytes arundinaceus_, CAB. Mus. Hein. 1850, 78.

HAB. Eastern United States, from the Missouri River; Greenland? REINHARDT; Mexico, and Guatemala? Cordova, SCLATER.

Var. paludicola.