MARSH WRENS. HY 



trive to get througli Vermont, New Hampshire, 

 and Maine without being seen is a question ; 

 and why they pass those States and never 

 tarry for the summer is another question still 

 more difficult to answer. 



During the summer they are seldom found 

 far from the rivers and swamps where they 

 dwell. They feed on insects and their larvge, 

 and on a certain kind of green grasshopper 

 that lives amid the grasses of low grounds. 

 Their song is a queer ditty, being a rather low, 

 creaking sound somewhat like that produced 

 by air bubbling up through the mud or boggy 

 ground when you tread upon it. One author 

 describes this song as a sharp, metallic twitter. 

 Another says it begins with rather a harsh, 

 squeaking note, followed by a rattling twitter, 

 and ends much as it bes^an. 



It is interesting to note the oddly-con- 

 structed nest of these birds. In some respects 

 it is like the little nest of the reed warbler, 

 but in other respects it differs from it very 

 much. It is hung among culms or reeds by 

 being fastened at the sides, and often it swings 

 above the water of the marsh. 



However, it is more bulky than the reed 

 wren's and is globular in form. Its walls 

 are made of wet rushes plastered together 



