SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN 265 



the other in size. It also occupies a rather limited breeding range 

 between the other two, mainly in Solano and Sonoma Counties, Calif. 

 The 1931 Check-list gives its range as "west-central California, breed- 

 ing at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, in 

 Napa and Solano Counties, and thence south to Tulare County. In 

 winter spreads beyond its breeding range to Oregon and southern 

 California." Living as it does in a smilar type of country, we should 

 hardly expect to find anything in its habits that is different from 

 those of the neighboring races. 



The eggs of the Suisun marsh wren do not differ materially from 

 those of the species elsewhere. The measurements of 27 eggs average 



16.0 by 12.7 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 



17.1 by 13.2, 16.6 by 13.4, 14.4 by 12.4, and 15.0 by 12.1 millimeters. 



CISTOTHORUS PLATENSIS STELLARIS (Naumann) 



SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN 



Plates 48-51 



HABITS 



This tiny wren is more of a meadow wren than a marsh wren, for 

 it shuns the wettest marshes where the long-billed marsh wren loves 

 to dwell among the tall, dense growths of cattails or bulrushes and 

 where the water is a foot or more deep. It prefers the drier marshes 

 or wet meadows, where there is little water or where the ground is 

 merely damp. These are what we call the sedge meadows, where the 

 principal growth consists of various species of Carex and tall grasses, 

 often growing in thick tufts, and various other plants that need a 

 little moisture. Such marshes are often intersected by streams or 

 ditches or are bordered by lower and wetter marshes where cattails 

 and bulrushes flourish in the deeper water; the short-billed marsh 

 wrens have often been seen among the cattails and have even been 

 known to build their nests low down in these flags, but they much 

 prefer to breed in the sedge and grass association. A large marsh of 

 the latter type, near my home, has been a favorite breeding ground 

 for these wrens for many years ; there are some small willows, alders, 

 and gray birches along the banks of the intersecting ditches ; and small 

 bushes scattered through the marsh serve as singing stations for the 

 wrens ; many flowering plants add color to the scene all through sum- 

 mer, and it is a glorious sight early in fall when the bur-marigold 

 carpets the whole meadow with a blaze of yellow. A pair of marsh 

 hawks may be seen here in spring performing their courtships; we 

 have often seen the male in his spectacular flight and have flushed the 

 female from her nest. This and other similar swamps in eastern 

 Massachusetts are the favorite haunts of swamp sparrows, song spar- 

 rows, Henslow's sparrows, and northern yellowthroats. 



