THE OOLOGIST. 



12o 



Marsh Wrens are sleU(f7'is.''- What a 

 confession to make! All my life lone I 

 have confounded tlie note of (7. slellaj-ts 

 with that of C. pnlustris! 



I have thonglit it strange the Marsh 

 Wrens were not nesting in the tall weeds 

 and cat tails. But now, with the proof 

 of identity and witli mere hook knowl- 

 edge and data information to guide me, 

 I go at once a'searching, and, within 

 twenty minutes, have located at least 

 tive pairs of Short-billed Marsh Wrens, 

 each with from three to five true nests 

 and mock nests. And this was all I 

 found; though it was June 20; but this 

 was enough. 



The third morning was the next 

 morning, so eager was I to follow up 

 ray find. More mock nests but no eggs. 

 Clear across the marsh I go, and hop- 

 ing to turn the tide, I make ready the 

 line. The hand end is stayed, and I 

 start out to fasten the anchor end;when 

 with lust}' flapping and frantic quack- 

 ing, a female Mallard rises from the 

 grass, not si.x feet from me. Ii takes 

 but a minute to single out the bog in 

 which lie the incomplete sot of six eggs. 

 The late date, the slovenly nest, and 

 the entire absence of down indicates a 

 second set. And this, to my great cha- 

 grin, was afterward deserted, for no 

 apparent reason. The third set, also, 

 was violated, judging from the finding 

 of a half eaten Mallard egg, on the 

 marsh, ten days alter the discovery of 

 the above nest. 



Strange, is it not, how fortune often 

 "bunches" her favors! Ten minutes 

 after the Mallard tind, I was searching, 

 on hands and knees, for the nest of a 

 Bobolink which the rope had Hushed. 

 I had just begun to conclude that the 

 bird had only been feeding, when, Ije- 

 neath a broad leaf of marsh marigold I 

 caught a glimpse of egots. Eggs'i I 

 should say so, there were seven of them, 

 and this, too, a clear grounded and 

 heavily blotched set, very uniform in 

 pattern. Altogether, this nest contain- 



ed the best combined evidences of 

 fecundity and cunning 1 have ever seen. 

 But, heie I am. late to breakfast! 



June 2'2 is my favorite morning, and 

 what a morning! Passing beautiful, and 

 rich in lesults. Naturally, by tins date. 

 I am anxious aljout the Marsh Wren 

 eggs; and this morning's search is ex- 

 clusively devoted to them. I explore, 

 minutely, ground gone over a few days 

 ago. Almost mechanically a rough 

 nest lying under foot is examined, but 

 my exploring tinger touches eggs, a 

 number of them. Gently they are rolled 

 out on the palm of my hand. "One, 

 two, three,'" e?^/i/ of them! Unusually 

 rounded ovate, they resemble minature 

 Bob-white eggs, but for their purer 

 whiteness. Incubation far advanced, 

 but so rare and rarely large a set must 

 be saved, and I saved it. Not ten min- 

 utes later another nest was found, 

 above the marsh line among rather tall 

 weeds. A rough nest, beaten down by 

 me in previous passing. It contained 

 six incubated eggs. 



Starting homeward, I passed within 

 a few yards of the Marsh Hawk nest. 

 When nearly opposite. I flushed a spar- 

 row. Song Sparrow, one would say. 

 But a certain niceness about the nest 

 and a delicateness of coloring about the 

 eggs induced me to drop out of sight in 

 the grass; and, after many minutes, a 

 cautious bird appeared; and 1 noted tlie 

 ashy thr(jat and unspotted breast of the 

 .Swamp Sparrow. 



The eggs were the most exquisite, of 

 this species, that I have ever seen; one 

 of the three, a fourth had been broken, 

 being almost a clear blue, the smaller 

 end delicately marbled with a broad 

 circlet of pale lilac. A parasitic Cow- 

 bird egg in the nest revealed the cause 

 of the broken egg. Why are delicately 

 marked and colored eggs so often frag- 

 ile'.' With utmost care in blowing, 

 though incubation was not very far ad- 

 vanced, these eggs all burst, while a 

 .second set. by the same bird, found by 



