440 INSECTIVOROUS BIRrS. 



the Union early in April, and retires to the south about 

 the middle of October. According to Audubon many 

 individuals of this species pass the winter near the shores 

 of West Forida, and the estuaries of the Mississippi. 

 They are scarcely known to the north of the state of 

 New York, their place, in New England, being appar- 

 ently occupied by the preceding species ; westward they 

 were met with on the banks of the Missouri, within the 

 wooded regions, by Mr. Say. It is a remarkably active 

 and quaint little species, skipping about with great ac- 

 tivity after its insect food and their larvae among the 

 rank grass and rushes, near ponds, and the low banks of 

 rivers, where alone it affects to dwell, laying no claims 

 to the immunities of the habitable circle of man ; but con- 

 tent with its favorite marshes, neglected and seldom seen, 

 it rears its young in security. The song of this species, 

 according to the observations of a friend,* is very simi- 

 lar to that of the preceding, a sort of short, tremulous, 

 and hurried warble. Its notes were even yet heard in an 

 island of the Delaware, opposite to Philadelphia, as late 

 as the month of September, where they were still in 

 plenty in this secluded asylum. It does not appear that 

 Wilson had ever heard the voice of this species ; or he 

 seems indeed to have confounded it with the actual bub- 

 bling of the marshy ground on which he trod. Audubon 

 compares its quickly repeated notes to the grating of a 

 rusty hinge, and adds, that its merry song is continued 

 nearly through the whole of the fore part of the day.t 



The nest according to Wilson, is generally suspended 

 among the reeds, and securely tied to them at a suffi- 



* Mr. R. Howarth. 



t Orn. Biog. i. p. 500. If, in fact, this species sings like the preceding, with all def- 

 erence to Mr. Audubon, from whom 1 am sorry ever to be obliged to differ, I cannot 

 perceive any resemblance to the grating sound of a hinge. 



