_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.