Vaccinium frondosum, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 352. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 285.—Decandria Monogynia, Linn. Ericæ, Juss.
This plant has already been described at [p. 129. of Vol. I]. It is very abundant in the pine barrens of the Floridas, where it is in full flower in February, and attains a height of from four to eight feet.
THE WOOD WREN.
Troglodytes americana.
PLATE CLXXIX. Male.
Although I feel much pleasure in introducing this new species to you, I regret that I am yet unable to speak with certainty of its summer haunts, or of the extent of its migration in the United States. A family of Wrens of this species were shot by my sons in a deep wood, eight or ten miles from Eastport in Maine, in the summer of 1832. The young were following their parents through the dark and tangled recesses of their favourite places of abode, busily engaged in search of their insect prey; but their nest was not seen. Some weeks afterwards three adult birds of the same kind were shot near Dennisville in the same district; and, on shewing them to my young and intelligent friend Thomas Lincoln, Esq. he told me that they bred in hollow logs in the woods, and seldom if ever approached the farms. He had seen the eggs, but, considering it a common species there, had made no notes of their number or colour; nor had he attended to the form or materials of their nest. My drawing was made at that place.
Last winter, while at Charleston, I saw many of them: they had much the same habits as in Maine, remaining in thick hedges along ditches, in the woods, and also not far distant from plantations. I procured several through the assistance of my friend John Bachman, which now form part of my large collection of skins of American birds. The notes of this species differ considerably from those of the House Wren, to which it is nearly allied. I hope to be more familiar with the Wood Wren before my labours are completed, in which case I shall not fail to make you acquainted with the result of my observations.
The following table exhibits a view of the places of resort of our different Wrens, which are arranged according to their comparative frequency.
1. The Carolina Wren is extremely abundant in all the Southern States, and gradually diminishes in number as you approach the Middle Districts, none I believe being ever seen farther east than the State of New York. It occurs chiefly in maritime districts, or the neighbourhood of lakes, ponds or rivers.
2. The House Wren is abundant during spring and summer in the Middle Districts, and extends in small numbers eastward into Maine. Very few are seen to the west of the Alleghanies, and none in Kentucky or Louisiana. It is fond of the neighbourhood of human habitations.
3. The Winter Wren abounds in Maine during summer; some breed in the mountainous portions of the Middle States; none are seen in the south, unless during winter, when a few occur as far as Charleston in South Carolina; at this period it is abundant in Kentucky.