280 SINGING BIRDS. 



seen, it rears its young in security. The song, according to the 

 observations of a friend, is very similar to that of the preced- 

 ing, — a sort of short, tremulous, and hurried warble. Its 

 notes were even yet heard in an island of the Delaware, oppo- 

 site to Philadelphia, as late as the month of September, where 

 they were still in plenty in this secluded asylum. Towards the 

 close of the breeding season the song often falls off into a low, 

 guttural, bubbling sound, which appears almost like an effort of 

 ventriloquism. 



The nest, according to Wilson, is generally suspended 

 among the reeds and securely tied to them at a sufficient 

 height above the access of the highest tides. It is formed of 

 wet rushes well intertwisted together, mixed with mud, and 

 fashioned into the form of a cocoa-nut, having a small orifice 

 left in the side for entrance. The principal material of this 

 nest, as in the preceding species, is, however, according to 

 Audubon, the leaves of the sedge-grass, on a tussock of which 

 it also occasionally rests. The young quit the nest about the 

 20th of June, and they generally have a second brood in the 

 course of the season. From the number of empty nests found 

 in the vicinity of the residence of the Marsh Wren, it is 

 pretty evident that it is also much employed in the usual 

 superfluous or capricious labor of the genus. The pugnacious 

 character of the males, indeed, forbids the possibility of so 

 many nests being amicably occupied in the near neighborhood 

 in which they are commonly found. 



This Wren is common in suitable localities in Massachusetts, but 

 has not been found farther northward. It occurs westward to the 

 Pacific, and south (in winter) to the Gulf States. It appears on 

 Canadian territory only in southern Ontario and Manitoba. 



Note. — Mr. W. E. D. Scott discovered at Tarpon Springs, Flor- 

 ida, in 1888, a Wren that resembles />a/T/sifrzs, but differs in having 

 bars on the upper and under tail-coverts ; also the brown color has 

 a more decided tinge of olive than of rufous. Mr. Scott has named 

 the bird, in honor of his wife, Marian's Marsh Wren {Cisto- 

 thorus mariancs). It is common along the southwestern coast of 

 Florida. 



