160 



NOKTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Cistothorw) palu^tris. 



Provinces, and from the Atlantic to the Upper Missouri. It is nowhere 

 abundant, and in many large portions of intervening territory has never 

 been found. 



It is exclusively an inhabitant of low, fresh-water marshes, open swamps, 



and meadows, is never found on high 

 ground, and is very shy and difficult of 

 approach. It makes its fii'st appearance 

 in Massachusetts early in May, and leaves 

 early in September. In winter it has 

 been found in all the Gulf States, from 

 Florida to Texas. 



According to Nuttall, this Wren has a 

 lively and quaint song, delivered ear- 

 nestly and as if in haste, and at short 

 intervals, either from a tuft of sedge or 

 from a low bush on the edge of a marsh. 

 When approached, the song becomes 

 harsher and more hurried, and rises 

 into an angry and petulant cry. In the early part of the season the male is 

 quite lively and musical. These AVrens spend their time chiefly in the long, 

 rank grass of the swamps and meadows searching for insects, their favorite 

 food. 



Their nest is constructed in the midst of a tussock of coarse hiah crrass, 

 the tops of which are ingeniously interwoven into a coarse and strong cover- 

 ing, spherical in shape and closed on every side, except one small aperture 

 left for an entrance. The strong wiry grass of the tussock is also interwoven 

 witli finer materials, making the whole impervious to the weather. The 

 inner nest is composed of grasses and finer sedges, and lined with soft, vege- 

 table down. The eggs are nine in number, |)ure white, and rather small for. 

 the bird. They are exceedingly delicate and fragile, more so than is usual 

 even in the eggs of Hunnning-Birds. They are of an oval shape, and measure 

 .60 by .45 of an inch. 



Mr. Nuttall conjectured that occasionally two females occupied the same 

 nest, and states that he has known the male bird to busy itself in construct- 

 ing several nests, not more than one of wdiich would be used. As these birds 

 rear a second brood, it is probable tliat these nests are built from an in- 

 stinctive desire to have a new one in readiness for the second l)rood. This 

 pecidiarity has been noticed in other Wrens, M'here the female sometimes 

 takes possession of the new abode, lays and sits upon her second set of eggs 

 before her first brood are ready to fiy, which are left to the charge of her 

 mate. 



Mr. Audubon found this Wren breeding in Texas. Dr. Trudeau met them 

 on the marshes of the Delaware Eiver, and their nest and eggs have been 

 sent to us from the Koskonons; marshes of Wisconsin. It has also been found 



