242 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



1879, I remember distinctly having found pure white eggs of this 

 form with a speck or two of purplish shell markings at the larger 

 end. The eggs are, however, normally chocolate color, but sometimes 

 of a paler shade and spotted with brownish olive. From four to 

 six eggs are laid, * * * Three broods are certainly raised, for I have 

 taken eggs as late as August 9." 



The measurements of 40 eggs in the United States National Museum 

 average 15.4 by 11.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 16.5 by 12.2, 15.5 by 12.5, and 14.1 by 11.1 millimeters. 



I can find nothing in the recorded habits of this wren that is peculiar 

 to the race. Mr. Wayne says that — 



a mouse (Hespcromys leucopus), which lives in the marsh and builds a nest 

 similar to that of the wren, commonly takes possession of the nest and often 

 eats the eggs as Well as the young. * * * At the present time the birds are 

 rare and confined to a few restricted and widely separated localities, the great 

 cyclone of August 27 and 28, 1893, having almost exterminated them. This form 

 is non-migratory, and I understand that it is abundant on the coast of Georgia. 

 If the birds were migratory the places of those that were destroyed by the 

 cyclone of 1893 would be filled by migrants from Florida and Georgia. This, 

 however, has not been the case, showing conclusively that this form is non- 

 migratory. 



TELMATODYTES PALUSTRIS MARIAN AE (Scott) 



MARIAN'S MARSH WREN 

 HABITS 



Although much of the earlier literature on the status and distribu- 

 tion of Marian's marsh wren is decidedly confusing, it now seems 

 safe to conclude that it is the resident, breeding form on the west 

 coast of Florida. The 1931 Check-list gives as its range, "Gulf coast 

 from Charlotte Harbor, Florida, to Mississippi." The latest author- 

 ity on Florida birds, Arthur H. Howell (1932) calls it "an abundant 

 resident on the Gulf coast from St. Marks soutli to Old Tampa Bay. 

 * * * Marsh Wrens are not known to breed at Pensacola, and we 

 found no breeding colonies from that point eastward until we reached 

 St. Marks ; from there southward they are abundant in suitable marshes 

 as far as Tarpon Springs. Pennock reported a few birds seen in Char- 

 lotte Harbor, April 11 and 13, 1921, at which time he took a specimen 

 and observed a nearly completed nest." 



The Rev. H. E. Wheeler (1931) made a survey of the breeding 

 colonies of Marian's marsh wren on the coast of Alabama, establishing 

 the fact that this wren breeds in all suitable coastal marshes through- 

 out the whole Gulf coast of that State, but he evidently found no 

 breeding records for Mississippi. He, also, made an exhaustive study 

 of the previous literature relating to this wren on the Gulf coast and to 

 its supposed occurrence on the Atlantic coast, which is well worth 

 reading, as an interesting history of the confusion that has existed. 



