22 PliOCEEDINGS OF TBK 



with pearly eggs instead of chocolate ones. 'I hough 1 was out 

 for the mere joy of heing out, I had really come with a hope of 

 discovering this mousy mite of a Wren, and of watching her 

 ways. It was like hoping to watch the ways of the " wunk." 

 Several times I have been near these little Wrens; but what 

 chance has a pair of human eyes with a sulking four inches of 

 brownish streaks and bars in the middle of a marsh! Such 

 birds are the everlasting depj)air of the naturalist, the salt of his 

 earth. The belief that a pair of them dwelt somewhere in this 

 green expanse, that I might at any step come upon them, made 

 me often forget the mosquitoes. 



" When I reached the ridge of rose and mallow bushes, two 

 Wrens began muttering in the grass with dififerent notes and 

 tones from those of the Long-billed. I advanced cautiously. 

 Soon one flashed out and whipped back among the thick stems 

 again, exposing himself just long enough to show me siellaris, 

 the little Short-billed Wren I was hunting. I tried to stand 

 still for a second glimpse and a clue to the nest; but the mos- 

 quitoes! Things have come to a bad pass with the bird hunter, 

 whose only gun is an opera-glass, when he cannot stand stock 

 still for on hour. His success depends upon his ability to take 

 root. He needs light feet, a divining mind, and many other 

 things, but most of all he needs patience. There are few mor- 

 tals, however, with mosquito-proof patience — one that would 

 stand the test here. Remembering a meadow in New England 

 where stellaris nested, I concluded to wait till chance took me 

 thither, and passed on." 



Upon corresponding with Mr. Sharp, I find that he can give 

 me no further notes, but he says that he is absolutely sure that 

 it was stellaris he saw on that " late June day." 



The occurrence of a pair of birds as late as this in south Jer- 

 sey would certainly indicate that they were breeding. East 

 Point is many miles south of Wilmington, Delaware, and is 

 nearer the Ocean, the marshes would naturally be much saltier 

 than above. Stellaris and pahistris were nesting (?) in the same 

 marsh; these points with Audubon's record tend to show that 

 stellaris may breed regularly to southern New Jersey; but as Mr. 

 Sharp says, the mosquitoes are so abundant that hunting is 



