MAESH WEEKS. 



I THINK it will be interesting to tell you 

 about two little creatures of America which 

 are indeed bundles of good cheer — the long- 

 billed and short-billed marsh wi'ens. Let us 

 first make our bow to the long-billed marsh 

 wren, a very cunning little bird which selects 

 a home in boggy places. Like many people 

 who can afford it, he spends his winters in the 

 Southern States, and then comes north in the 

 summer, making his presence known by his 

 lively, chattering song and quaint behavior 

 among the reeds and grasses of the lowlands. 



Near the eastern shores of the Middle 

 States he chooses the salt marshes for his sum- 

 mer home, and also the tide-water rivers that 

 emjDty into the Atlantic. At other places 

 almost any reedy swamp satisfies him. Here is 

 a problem for our young readers. In the East- 

 ern States he is seldom, if ever, found north of 

 Massachusetts, and yet some of his brothers 

 and sisters of the same species spend the sum- 

 mer aAvay up in Greenland. How they con- 

 lie 



