The family Troglodytidae includes 9 species found in North America.

All but one species of wren occur in North and South America. The group clearly originated in the New World. The only wren in the Old World is a subspecies of Troglodytes troglodytes, the Winter Wren of North America, known in Europe as The Wren, which occurs in Eurasia and nw Africa. 

Most wrens live in thickets and undergrowth, some in marsh vegetation or desert scrub. Mainly are insectivorous, some take fruit. They are 10-23 cm. in length. Wrens are mostly small with short, slender bills, some decurved. Tails are short in most species, feet are strong, wings are short and rounded. Plumages are mostly rufous, browns and grays; striped, barred, spotted or streaked with white, black or gray. Sexes are alike. Wrens are highly vocal, many with complex, musical songs. Some sing duets. Most nest in holes or build domed nests with side openings. Eggs 2-3 in tropics, up to 10 in temperate regions; white, bluish, greenish, brown, often with speckles of brown or rufous. Only females incubate 13-19 days, some fed by male. Young hatched naked or with sparse down; fledge at 14-19 days, fed by both parents. Nests are used as dormitories by adults and young. Many species are cooperative breeders.