42 NESTS AND EGGS OF N. A. BIRDS. 



a projected edge. It is lined with fine soft grass, feathers and soft 

 vegetable substances. These nests are usually placed in low bushes 

 a few feet from the ground. 



The eggs average .65 by .50. They are of a rounded-oval shape, 

 thickly marked with small blotches and spots of a deep chocolate- 

 brown or dark fawn color. They number from six to nine. 



This species is found in Eastern United States, from the Missouri 

 river. 



67a. TELMATODYTES^ PALUSTRIS PALUDICOLA. 



TULE WREN. =- 



68. CISTOTHORUS STELLARIS. 



SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



"The Short-Billed Marsh Wren is very irregularly distributed 

 throughout the United States, being found from Georgia to the 

 British Provinces, and from the Atlantic to the Upper Missouri. 

 It is nowhere abundant, and in many large portions of interven- 

 ing territory has never been found. "■■•*••■ 



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

 grass, the tops of which are ingeniously interwoven into a coarse 

 and strong covering, spherical in shape, and closed on every 

 side, except one small aperture left for entrance. The strong wiry 

 grass of the tussock is also interwoven with finer materials, making 

 the whole impervious to the weather. The inner nest is composed 

 of grasses and finer sedges, lined with soft, vegetable down. 



The eggs are nine in number, pure white, and rather small for 

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

 is usual even in the eggs of Humming-Birds. They are of an oval 

 shape, and measures .60 by .45 of an inch. — Baird, Brewer and 

 Eidgeway's N, a. Birds, vol. i, pp. 159, 160. 



FAMILY Motaeillidse.— Wagtails. 



69. motacilla alba, 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 



•'The common White Wagtail of Europe claims a place in the 

 North American fauna as an occasional visitant of Greenland." 

 Nests on the ground among the grass of the meadow. 



