TELMATODYTES PALUSTRIS, LOXG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 35 



1866, 283.— COUES, Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1S66. 79.— Coues, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1868, 

 278.— MclL\yR., ihid. v, 1666, 87.— Coop., B. Cal. 1870, 75.— Aixen, Bull. M. C. 

 Z. ii, 1871, 267 ; iii, 1872. 175.— Aiken, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 1872, 196.— M.vyx., 

 Guide, 1870, 98 ; B. Fla. 1872, 42.— Sxow, B. Kans. 1873, 6. 



Telmatodyfes 2)(ilHstns, Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 1868, 108.— Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. 

 1871, 20.— Coues, Key, 1872, 87. 



Tchnatodytes anuidhiaccus, Cab., Mus. Hein. i, 1850, 78. 



Thryothonis arundlnaccus, Bp., Cousp. i, 1850, 220. 



Thryoihorun arundineiis, Vieile., Nouv. Diet, xxxiv, 1819, 58. 



Cistothorus xxilustris var. palndicola, Bd., Rev. 1864, 148 (West coast). 



Hab. — In suitable places throughout temperate Xortli America, breeding throughout 

 its range; wintering along our southern border and southward. Greenland. Mexico. 

 Guaten)ala. 



Lieutenant Warren^.i Expedition. — 8838, Sand Hills ; 4744, mouth of Big Sioux River. 



Not obtained by Captain Rayuolds' Expedition, nor by the later ones. 



This little bird requires a particular condition of surface, which, when 

 met, renders it largely independent of geographical limitations. It in- 

 habits, exclusively, reedy swamps and marshes, nearly throughout the 

 continent, and is extremely abundant in the more favorable situations. 

 In most latitudes it is a migrant, but as it breeds throughout its range^ 

 only a part of the individuals passing north for this purpose, the remain- 

 der spending the year in their winter homes in the South. It is resident 

 in South Carolina, though the greater number go on uorthward to breed. 

 On the Xorth Carolina coast I found it abundant during the migrations, 

 and observed it through a part of jSToveinber, so that possibly some 

 winter as far north as this. In the extensive marshes along the Poto- 

 mac, overgrown with Zizania aquatica., it finds a congenial home ; and in 

 some spots scores of the nests may be seen at once. It reaches this 

 latitude about the middle of April, and remains into October. In 2»[ew 

 England this Wren is only a summer visitor, chiefly along the coast, and 

 it is rare, if really occurring, ijorth of Massachusetts. Xone of the 

 Maine or J^Tew Hampshire lists include it. In the West I found it breed- 

 ing abundantly in a reedy swamp near Fort Whipple, Arizona, where it 

 arrives in April and remains until i:«I^ovember. According to Dr. Cooper, 

 it winters in the Colorado Valley, as high as Fort Mojave. On the Pa- 

 cific coast the same writer speaks of its wintering north to the Colum- 

 bia, wherever there is a marsh overgrown with tule {Scirpns palustris). 

 I never seen it in the Missouri region, but Dr. Hayden reports its occa- 

 sional occurrence in marshy places along the river. Prof. Snow, Mr. 

 Allen, and Mr. Aiken, note its occurrence in Kansas and Colorado. 



The niditication of the Marsh Wren is not the least interesting part 

 of its history. It builds a large bulky nest of the tops of coarse grasses 

 and reeds, bent together and woven into a hollow ball, with a little hole 

 in one side, and fastens this globe to the upright stems of the growing- 

 reeds, several of which usually pass through its substance. The ball is 

 lined with finer grasses ; it is tolerably compact, yet there are often long- 

 shreds hanging from it, giving it rather a slovenly appearance. The 

 number of these structun^s that may sometimes be observed in a small 

 piece of marsh, within a few feet of each other, is astonishing, and ap- 

 parently out of all proj)ortion to the size of the colony inhaijiting the 

 ])at('h of reeds. This has occasioned the surmi.se that more nests are 

 built than are actually used, the idea being that the nervous, energetic 

 little creatures keep on building while the females are incubating, to 

 amuse themselves, or because they have nothing particular to do and 

 cannot keep still. However this may be, the old nests last a year or so 

 before they decay and lall to pieces, which may partly account for the 

 great numbers to be seen. The eggs, as usual, are numerou.s — six or 

 eight — sometimes so many as to induce the suspicion that they were not 



