_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.
[Illustration: _Troglodytes ædon._]
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.