TULE WREN 261 



The known breeding range of the western marsh wren in California is very 

 limited, being merely the restricted northeastern corner of the State, a region 

 which shows strongly Great Basin faunal affinities. In winter, however, plesius 

 is perhaps the most abundant of any form of the species, occurring in numbers 

 over a large part of the State. It is an especially numerous winter visitant in the 

 San Diegan district of southern California. In this region summer is the dry 

 season, a period of such excessive aridity that birds with the needs and pro- 

 clivities of tlie marsh wrens are closely limited as to habitat, being restricted to 

 extremely circumscribed areas about the few suitable permanent streams and 

 sloughs. In winter this is all changed. Abundant rains often transform what 

 were dry fields and pastures into ponds and marshes, while every roadside ditch is 

 running full, and bordered with dense vegetation. In consequence, the visiting 

 marsh wrens are enaliled to scatter widely over the country. 



He cites a number of records from various points along the coasts of 

 California and Oregon, which indicate that "individuals of this form 

 may occasionally be found in winter at any point along the coast." 

 But he shows clearly that the center of abundance in winter is in 

 southern California, "both on the deserts and in the San Diegan 

 region." 



TELMATODYTES PALUSTRIS PALUDICOLA (Balrd) 



TULE WREN 



HABITS 



Professor Baird (1864) was the first to name and describe a western 

 race of this species, based on one specimen from Washington and three 

 from California, and his name still applies to the long-billed marsh 

 wrens of the Pacific coast district from British Columbia to southern 

 California. His brief description gives as its characters: "Bill 

 shorter than tarsus. Tail coverts distinctly banded all across. Bands 

 on tail quite distinct ; appreciable on the central feathers." 



Kidgway (1904) gives a fuller description, based on 17 specimens, 

 as follows : "Most like T. p. palusfris, but tail-coverts usually barred 

 (especially the upper) , middle rectrices more distinctly barred, flanks, 

 etc., deeper brown, bill smaller, and tail decidedly longer; agreeing 

 with T. p. plesius in barred tail-coverts, more distinctly barred tail, 

 and relatively longer tail, but decidedly smaller and with coloration 

 decidedly darker." 



The name tule wren must not be understood to implj'^ that this wren 

 is wholly or even mainly, confined to the tules {Scirpus lacustris 

 OGcidentalis) ; although it breeds abundantly in this type of vegetation 

 in the extensive marshes or where it grows around the shores of lakes, 

 it also breeds commonly in the cattail marshes along the intersecting 

 channels or the banks of quiet streams, and in the salicornia of coastal 

 marshes where the supply of cattails is inadequate. 



Dr. Gordon D. Alcorn writes to me that the tule wren is abundant 

 in suitable localities in western Washington but says that "the wren 



75S06G— 4S- 18 



