_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.