WRENS 



197 



ne»t-building and other habits of this Wren 

 which are both significant and interesting. In 

 the first place, it is much more hkely to be heard 

 than seen, for it is nothing short of mouse-like 

 in its abihty to scamper around through the grass 

 or brush, and elude even the sharpest and most 

 practiced eye. Again, though it usually places 

 its nest in marshy land, the globular structure is 

 seldom built directly over the water, as that of 

 the Long-billed species is likely to be. The 

 entrance to the nest is at the side, hut it is usually 

 almost completely concealed. 



As its name implies, its bill is shorter than that 

 of its near relative, from whom it may also be 

 distinguished by its striped head and upper back, 

 and by its lack of a white line over the eve. Like 

 the Long-billed bird, it clings to grass and reed 

 stalks in a position as nearly upright as it can 

 assume, and with its tail cocked. Wren-like, over 

 its back. Its song, however, though voluble and 

 delivered with the rapidity characteristic of its 

 family, is composed of notes which are more 

 sibilant and Sparrow-like than are those of other 

 Wrens. 



LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN 

 Telmatodytes palustris palustris ( JJ'ilsnii) 



A O. U. Number 725 See Color Plate loj 



Other Names. — Marsh Wren ; Reed Wren : Cat-tail 

 Wren : Salt-water Marsh Wren. 



General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Upper 

 parts, brown and black with white streaks ; under 

 parts, white and pale brown. Bill, shorter than head, 

 slender, gently curved for most of its length: wings, 

 moderate in length and much rounded ; tail, nearly as 

 long as wing, much rounded, the feathers not tapering 

 and with broadly rounded tips. 



Color. — Crown, dull black, brownish centrally, usu- 

 ally with a broad and distinct though never sharply 

 defined center area of olive-brown on forehead and 

 crown, occasionally continued to the hindneck ; hind- 

 neck, mostly plain brown ; back, black, strcakrcl with 

 ivhitc : shoulders, rump, and upper tail-coverts, plain 

 brown ; lesser and middle wing-coverts plain brown : 

 greater coverts, brown, barred with dusky; oz'cr the eye. 

 a narrow stripe of zvhite narrozvly streaked with black- 

 ish and extending to the edges of the back of the liead : 

 back of the eye, a dusky streak; cheek region and 

 tinder parts, dull Xi'hite, passinii on sides and flanks into 

 pale broken, the chest usually faintly tinged with the 

 same, the sides and flanks sometimes speckled or indis- 

 tinctly barred with darker brown or dusky; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: .A. remarkable coconut- 

 .shaped structure of interwoven reeds, strongly fastened 

 to upright sedges or cat-tails, lined with fine grass ami 

 cat-tail down, with side entrance and nearly waterproof. 

 Eggs : 5 to 9, chocolate, generally sprinkled with 

 deeper colored specks and spots. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States, chiefly east of 

 the .Mlegheny Mountains ; north to Massachusetts and 

 New York; west to western New York and Pennsyl- 



vania ; breeds southward to the Potomac valley and 

 .'\tlantic coast of Maryland and Virginia; in winter 

 southward to North and South Carolina, occasionally to 

 western Florida, occasionally wintering in northern 

 portions of its range. 



K. Job Courtesy of Outing Pub. Co. 



LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN 

 At its nest with food for its babies 



The canoeist who paddles or drifts quictiv and 

 .slowly along some sluggish river, bordered hv 

 broad meadow marshes, mav catch sight of a 



nervous little brown bird hanging to the stems or 

 leaves of rushes, reeds, or cat-tails along the 

 margin and regarding him with alert, appre- 



