304 THE TULE WREN. 



Recognition Marks. — Pygmy size; brownish coloration ; reed-haunting habits 

 and sputtering notes distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: shaped hke a cucoannt, of reeds and grasses, hned with 

 plant-down, and with entrance in side ; placed two or three feet high in reeds, 

 rarely, high in bushes of swamp, ligys: 5 or 6, ground-color grayish brown but 

 so heavily dotted and clouded with varymg shades of chocolate and mahogany 

 as to be frequently obscured. Av. size .67 x .52 (17 x i3.-2j. Season: last week 

 in March to July; two broods. 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district from British Columbia south iluring 

 migration tn month c.if Colorado River and extremity of Lower California. 



Range in Washington. — Resident in suitable localities west of Cascades. 



Authorities. — Cistotlionts ( Tehnatod\tcs) palnstris Cab. Baird, Rep. Pac. 

 R. R. Surv. Xll. pt. II.. 1858, p. 364. part". C&S. L-'. Ra. Kk. B. E. 



Specimens. — U. of W. E. Prov. 



WHEN the February sun wa\-es his golden baton over the marshes 

 of western Washington, tiiey yield up a chorus of wren song which is 

 exceeded only l^y that of the frogs. The frogs, to be sure, have the ad- 

 vantage, in that their choral offering has greater carrying pnwer; but the 

 Wrens at close quarters leave )'ou in no doubt that the jjalni belongs to 

 them. One hesitates to call the medley of clicking, buzzing, and sputter- 

 ing, which welters in the reeds, music; but if one succeeds in catching sight 

 of a Tule Wren, holding on for dear life to a cat-tail stem, and vibrating like 

 a drill-chuck with the effort of his impassioned utterance, he feels sure that 

 music is at least intended. 



Wrens are ever busy bodies, and if they could not sing or chatter, or at 

 least scold, thev stnxly wotild explode. It is a mar\-el, too, that they find so 

 much to interest them in mere reeds, nuw green, now brown, set above a foot 

 or so of stagnant water. But, bless you ! Do not waste your sympathies upon 

 them. They have neighbors, — Red-wings, Yellow-throats, and the like — 

 and is it not the gossips of the little \'illage who are most exercised over their 

 neighbors' affairs? 



It seems probable that our Tule Wrens are largely resident. Certainly 

 thev are abundant in the more sheltered marshes in winter; and, since the 

 species does not extend very far northward, it is ])ossibly not too much to 

 assume that our birds live and die in a single swamp. They are, as a conse- 

 quence, verv nuicli mixed up on their seasons, and I ha\'e heard a swamp in 

 full song in November. 



Nesting in the Sotith Tacoma swamp, where several scores at least may be 

 fotmd, Ix'gins the last week in March, and full sets of eggs may certainly be 

 found by the first week in April. But "decoys" are, of course, the rule. In a 

 day Mr. Bowles found fifty-three nests, only three of which held eggs or 

 young. At least two Ijroods are raised in ;i season. 



The eggs, usuallv five or si.x in ntuuber, are so overlaid with tiny dots as 



