The Wilson Bulletin — No. 46. 13 



THE MARSH WRENS' MIDNIGHT SONG. 



CHRESWELL. J. HUNT. 



The Pensaiiken Creek forms a part of the boundary line be- 

 tween Burlington and Camden Counties, New Jersey. It 

 twists and turns in a very irregular course, and at last finds 

 its way into the Delaware River. 



As with all these tide-water creeks, the banks are high and 

 wooded on one side, while on the other side, for the most 

 part, lie low stretches of alder swamps, covered in the late 

 autumn with a rank growth of wild rice, spatter-dock and 

 pickerel-weed, with here and there a clump of rose-mallow or 

 a gorgeous cardinal flower. 



It is here, among this almost impregnable growth, that 

 countless numbers of Long-billed Marsh Wrens find a con- 

 genial home, building their globular nests in the alder bushes 

 just above the water, and when within the swamp one is never 

 beyond hearing of their rippling song. 



They seem to be fairly overflowing with music — a bubbling, 

 gushing song that seems rather to have had its birth above 

 some rushing mountain stream, than above these sluggish 

 waters. Before one has stopped singing another takes up the 

 strain, hence all day long these marshes are merry with music, 

 nor does the coming of night silence them. 



On the moonlight nights of July and August, these happy 

 little songsters make merry the midnight hours with their 

 cheery warble. 



They mount into the air, singing, and then dive back again 

 among the sheltering reeds. The song is no doubt the same 

 as that sung in the daylight, but the night gives to it a cer- 

 tain charm. One must hear it, mingled with the quivering 

 call of a Screech Owl and the "quauk, quauk" of Night 

 Herons, to fully appreciate it. 



These concerts are not restricted to moonlight nights. I 

 spent the night of August 8, 1903, in a boat among these 

 swamps. It was cloudy, and now and then a light shower 

 fell, but the Wrens were in song. Could they be otherwise ? 

 To the bird lover who has never witnessed this night per- 

 formance, there awaits a very pleasant experience indeed. 



