SHORT-BILLED MARSH-WREN. 437 



This amusing and not unmusical little species inhabits 

 the lowest marshy meadows, but does not frequent the 

 reed-flats. It never visits cultivated grounds, and is at all 

 times shy, timid, and suspicious. It arrives in this part 

 of Massachusetts about the close of the first week in May, 

 and retires to the South by the middle of September at 

 farthest, probably by night, as it is never seen in pro- 

 gress, so that its northern residence is only prolonged 

 about four months. 



Its presence is announced by its lively and quaint song 

 of'tsh Hship, a day day day day, delivered in haste and 

 earnest at short intervals, either when he is mounted on 

 a tuft of sedge, or while perching on some low bush near 

 the skirt of the marsh. The Hsh 'tship is uttered with a 

 strong aspiration, and the remainder with a guttural 

 echo. While thus encrasred, his head and tail are alter- 

 nately depressed and elevated, as if the little odd per- 

 former were fixed on a pivot. Sometimes the note va- 

 ries to 'tsliijj 'tship 'tshia, dlV dli* dh' dh\ the latter part 

 being a pleasant trill. When approached too closely, 

 which not often happened, as he permitted me to come 

 within two or three feet of his station, his song becomes 

 harsh and more hurried, like 'fship da, da da, and de, de, 

 de de c/' rf' dh, or tslie de de de de, rising into an angry, 

 petulant cry, which is sometimes also a low hoarse and 

 scolding daigli daigh ; then again on invading the nest, 

 the sound sinks to a plaintive 'tsli tsJiip, 'tsh tsJiip. In the 

 early part of the breeding season, the male is very lively 

 and musical, and in his best humor he tunes up a 'tship 

 'thsip tship a dee, with a pleasantly warbled and reiterated 

 de. At a later period, another male uttered little else 

 than a hoarse and guttural daigh, hardly louder than the 

 croaking of a frog. When approached they repeatedly de- 

 scend into the grass, where they spend much of their 

 37* 



