lOO TROGLODYTID^ : WRENS. 



uous by its bulk and its exposed position, is built 

 of coarse grasses and reed-tops loosely intertwined, 

 sometimes plastered with mud, and securely attached 

 to its upright swaying supports, some of which pass 

 through its substance ; is lined with fine soft grasses, 

 and has a hole on one side, sometimes nearer the 

 bottom than the top. The eggs, to the number of 6 

 to lO, are remarkably dark-colored, being usually so 

 thickly dotted with chocolate-brown as to appear al- 

 most uniformly of this color ; but there is great vari- 

 ation in this respect; they average about 0.58 by 

 0.45 of an inch in size. The Marsh Wrens reach 

 New England in May, and leave in September; but 

 their movements are so secret that precise dates of 

 arrival and departure are not easily determined. In 

 fact, the birds are not often noticed excepting when 

 they are colonized for the summer in their favorite 

 marshes, when their curious posturing, brusque deport- 

 ment, and gay rollicking song, attract the attention of 

 the most casual observer who may chance to penetrate 

 their reedy demesne. 



SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



CiSTOTHORUS STELLARIS {Ltcht.) Cab. 



Chars. Above, brown, the crown and most of the back blackish, 

 sharply and conspicuously streaked with white throughout. Be- 

 low, whitish, shaded with clear brown across the breast and 

 along the sides, and especially on the flanks and crissum, which 

 are often also obsoletely barred with dusky. A whitish supra- 

 ciliary line. Wings and tail as in the last species. Bill blackish 

 above, pale below, extremely small and short, being scarcely half 

 as long as the head. Length, 4.50 ; extent, 6.00 ; wing and tail, 

 each, about 1.75 ; tarsus, 0.70 ; bill from 0.35 to 0.40. ^ 



