THE OOLOGIST. 



121 



is almost always used in the walls, 

 but rightly say that the birds do not 

 gather it for use in their nests, but 

 that it adheres to the dried rushes 

 of which the nests are made, and is 

 thus unintentially used in its compo- 

 sition. 



In this locality, out of a personal 

 examination of over 200 Long-billed 

 Marsh Wrens' nests not one contain- 

 ed any mud, or hardly a trace of it, 

 all being built of clean, dried rushes, 

 leaves, blades, etc. 



The "authorities" referred to in the 

 preceding paragraph also give their 

 reason as to the use and utility of 

 the mud in the nests, asserting that 

 it is strength in structure, and serves 

 to keep its conformity or shape. Be 

 that as it may, which seems reason- 

 able, suffice to say that non-mud used 

 nests are as well built and compact 

 as "mud-built" ones and retain their 

 globular form longer. The former 

 nests are liable to become soft and 

 shapeless during a heavy rain, due to 

 the mud in its composition, and the 

 mudless ones will nearly always sur- 

 vive rainy weather and retain their 

 shape. There are exceptions, how- 

 ever, to these cases. 



A continued spell of rainy weather 

 affects the incubation of the eggs 

 and often causes the desertion of 

 many nests, as the rain soaks through 

 and renders them uninhabitable, as 

 the walls fall in. The mud-walled 

 nests keep out the water a little lon- 

 ger than the non-mud nests, but once 

 it soaks through it is as bad or worse 

 than the latter nests. Continued 

 rainy weather affects both sorts of 

 nests alike. Those that have no mud 

 in their composition are better built, 

 larger and with thicker walls than 

 the other kind, hence their ability to 

 better withstand the rainy weather. 



The nests are built of dried blades 

 of cat tails, calamus and marsh 



grasses, which are woven and inter- 

 woven tightly and closely together 

 into compact globular balls of various 

 shape and sizes, and they are attach- 

 ed to the stalks or bases of upright 

 rushes by being woven to them and 

 by the green rushes' tops being inter- 

 woven into the composition of the 

 nests. In some localities, sound 

 marsh grass is used, but what kind of 

 material the birds use elsewhere I am 

 unable to state from experience. 

 These materials form the outer struc- 

 ture of the nest. The lining consists 

 of fine, soft, dry marsh grasses, cat 

 tails and down, fine dead heads of liv- 

 ing cat tails, birds' feathers, often of 

 their own species, usually of Rails, 

 Bitterns and Gallinules, however, and 

 cotton. The latter material they 

 found in the marsh where I had pur- 

 posely strewn it to ascertain whether 

 they would use it. They did and 

 were probably glad to get it. Some 

 nests had a mixing, little of each, of 

 all these materials. Some are lined 

 exclusively with one sort of it and the 

 like. Mention has been made that 

 the nests are of various shapes and 

 sizes, but the usual shape is oval and 

 the uniform size is 6 inches long by 

 3 1-2 inches in width. Some of the 

 nests resemble a cocoanut in shape, 

 which is the next commonest. Others 

 are heart shaped and spherical. The 

 entrance, which is a small hole about 

 the size of a nickel five-cent piece, 

 but may be smaller or larger, is al- 

 most invariably placed just above the 

 middle of the nest in the side, but 

 may be found in the bot- 

 tom or top. It is often concealed by 

 cleverly arranged rushes and can be 

 found with difficulty, and sometimes 

 it is so small that it causes sur- 

 prise and wonder to see how the mid- 

 get wren can squeeze through it. 



The nests are extremely tight and 

 closely woven structures, excluding 



