John James Audubon wrote in the summer of 1822 about the Carolina wren, “Whilst at Oakley, the residence of my friend JAMES PERRIE, Esq. near Bayou Sara, I discovered that one of these birds was in the habit of roosting in a Wood Thrush’s nest [Plate 73] that was placed on a low horizontal branch, and had been filled with leaves that had fallen during the autumn. It was in the habit of thrusting his body beneath the leaves, and I doubt not found the place very comfortable.”
For Birds of America, Audubon drew “The dwarf buck-eye, on a blossomed twig of which this pair of Great Carolina Wrens are placed, is by nature as well as name a low shrub. It grows near swampy ground in great abundance. Its flowers, which are scentless, are much resorted to by Humming-birds, on their first arrival, as they appear at a very early season. The wood resembles that of the common horse-chestnut, and its fruit is nearly the same in form and colour, but much smaller. I know of no valuable property possessed by this beautiful shrub.” The plant is commonly known today as the Red buckeye.