58 



THE OOLOGIST. 



one egg in it. I thought it strange, so I 

 looked on the ground under the nest and 

 found one broken egg. The next day (1st 

 of July) I went and saw only one egg in 

 the nest, and after searching awhile on the 

 ground found a broken one. I took the 

 one good egg out, as I was afraid it would 

 share the same fate as the other two. Not 

 discouraged at her poor success, the poor 

 little bird set to work and carried this nest 

 away and built another just where the tirst 

 one was. She built it strong and laid two 

 eggs in it, which she hatched and reared 

 the young birds. 



In an article in the last number of The 

 OoLOGiST I noticed that a party stated that 

 he knew of a pair of Long-billed Marsh 

 Wrens which built several nests. I have 

 seen several descriptions of the nesting 

 habits of this species, but never before 

 heard anyone mention their making a num- 

 ber of nests. 



The first time that I looked for their 

 nests was on the 12th of last June. I dis- 

 covered three nests and I thought that if I 

 got their eggs they would do me. In a 

 week I and my friend went back. There 

 were no eggs in these nests and out of about 

 twenty more we found only three contain- 

 ing eggs. The nests which they did not 

 use were only shells, and not lined. One 

 pair of birds would have four or five nests, 

 never more than twenty feet apart, and 

 sometimes only five or six. The birds 

 woidd fly to the empty nests. Should like 

 to know their object in constructing so 

 many nests. V. B. C, 



Port Hope, Ont. 



Marsh Wrens. 



On June 11th of the past year, desiring 

 to obtain a series of the eggs of the Long- 

 billed Marsh Wren, I visited a swamp a 

 few miles north of the Pennsylvania line 

 and near the Delaware river. A previous 

 visit ilisc(jvered the birds in moderate 

 abundance, but the reeds only just started 

 to grow and no completed nests. A few 

 were seen in vaiious stages of completion. 

 The reeds at the time of my last visit were 



from four to six feet high and navigation 

 among them was quite laborious, the 

 ground being fiooded at high tide, leaving 

 a soft footing. The day was extremely 

 warm, which detracted much from the 

 pleasure of the enterprise. After an hour 

 or more of collecting I secured eight or ten 

 sets of eggs, from three to five in a set — the 

 former incomplete, the latter usually if not 

 always a full set, as incubation in most 

 cases was advanced. After packing- the 

 eggs I determined to secure two or three 

 nests with eggs, so after a short search 

 found what was required and packed them 

 in the wagon without examination other 

 than to insert a finger to make sure they 

 contained one or more eggs. Upon arriv- 

 ing home, what was my surprise to dis- 

 cover that one of these nests contained 

 three eggs undoubtedly of the short-billed 

 species. They were clear white and very 

 fragile. The birds were not seen, nor was 

 anything peculiar noted in the construction 

 of the nest. 



I returned ten days later to the same 

 locality, hoping to secure the remainder of 

 the same or to get another set of this spe- 

 cies, but a diligent senrcli failed to discover 

 them. 



I noted about three empty nests for every 

 one that was occupied, which is, I believe, 

 about the usual average. The unoccupied 

 nests were more conspicuously placed in 

 the reeds, the opening always prominent, 

 and the nests were, moreover, unlined with 

 the soft material. In all of which they dif- 

 fered from the egg-containing nests, which 

 were lined or Jioored with a soft mat or bed 

 of fine' grass, e^c., which usually so com- 

 pletely filled the entrance as to make it dif- 

 ficult to discover. Iii almost every case 

 this peculiarity was sutftcient to determine 

 which were the unoccupied nests and which 

 contained eggs. My inference is that the 

 extra nests are built either for a roosting 

 place for the males and yonng after leaving 

 the home nest or for the better conceal- 

 ment of the real nest from marauding ver- 

 min, or for both purposes. 



" Ortyx," 

 Kennett Square, Pa. 



