COMMON CHARACTERS. Head above, and back, of much the same color. Crissum barred transversely; rest of under parts plain. Upper tail-coverts and exposed surface of wings barred. Iris hazel. Nest in holes or with an arched covering. Eggs reddish-white, spotted with red and purple. _a. Thryothorus._ T. ludovicianus. Tail-feathers reddish-brown, barred with black. Greater wing-coverts spotted with whitish. Beneath yellow-whitish, washed occasionally with rusty. Sides plain. Bill from nostril, .45. Length, 6.00. _Hab._ Eastern Province United States … var. _ludovicianus_. Beneath rufous; lighter on throat and along median line. Sides obsoletely barred with dusky. Bill from nostril, .56. Length, 5.25. _Hab._ Lower Rio Grande … var. _berlandieri_. _b. Telmatodytes._ T. bewickii. Tail-feathers, except central, black; the exposed surface and tips only varied with white. Length, 5.50. Above dark rufous-brown; beneath plumbeous-white; flanks tinged with brown. Rump and exposed secondaries distinctly banded. Quills and middle tail-feathers brownish-black. Length from nostril, .39; along gape, .70. _Hab._ Eastern Province United States … var. _bewickii_. Above ashy-brown; beneath, including flanks, clear white; rump ashy, and, like secondaries, very obsoletely barred. Quills and middle tail-feathers grayish-brown. _Hab._ Southern border of United States, into Mexico … var. _leucogaster_. Colors intermediate between the two last. Bill longer, from nostril, .50, from gape, .81. _Hab._ Pacific Province … var. _spilurus_. SUBGENUS THRYOTHORUS, VIEILL. Thryothorus ludovicianus, var. ludovicianus, BONAP. GREAT CAROLINA WREN. _Sylvia ludoviciana_, LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 548. _Troglodytes ludovicianus_, LICHT. Verz. 1823, 35; also of BONAPARTE, AUDUBON, and PRINCE MAX. _Thryothorus ludovicianus_, BON. List. 1838, etc.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 361; Rev. 123. _Troglodytes arundinaceus_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 55, pl. cviii. (Certainly this species; the habits those of _C. palustris_.) _Certhia caroliniana_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 61, pl. xii, fig. 5. _Thryothorus littoralis_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. XXXIV. 1819, 56. _Thryothorus louisianæ_, LESSON, Rev. Zoöl. 1840, 262. Additional figures: AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. lxxvii.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, pl. cxvii.