NESTING BEHAVIOR OF THE SOUTHERN HOUSE WREN IN SURINAM

The range of the Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus) isvery large, as the species occurs from the tropical coastal zone of eastern Mexico and the Lesser Antilles southward to Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands. In Surinam the bird is well known as the Gado fowroe (God bird). It is one of the commonest birds in the cultivated area of the coastal region and is present everywhere in gardens of the town and smaller settlements. This wren is also found in the extensive ‘parwa,’ the woods of Avicennid nitida bordering the sea coast, in the coffee plantations, and on the dry sandy savannas in the interior of the country. It is lacking, however, in the midst of dense forests, but an abandoned shed in a clearing will almost certainly harbor a couple of these birds.

F. HAVERSCHMIDT, The Condor 54(5)