Winter Wren 39 



while swinging on the tall reeds. The song is as indescribable 

 as the Bobolink's and once heard will never be taken for any 

 other. These birds are quite common near Watervliet. The 

 nests are globular in form, constructed of grass and flags, and 

 placed in a cluster of cattails. The entrance is through a 

 small hole in the side. From five to nine chocolate-hued eggs 

 are laid. The male, to amuse himself and to work off super- 

 fluous energy, builds several mock nests near the family 

 domicile, but so far as known they are never occupied. 



The Short-billed Marsh Wren (Cistothorus stellaris. 

 4.00) may be present in Albany County, but I admit 

 never having seen it, and know no one who has. 



Winter Wren.— Olbiorchilus hiemalis. 4.05 



Spring and Fall Migrant and Rare Winter Visitant 



Field marks.— Tawny line over eye; entire plumage finely 

 barred with varying shades of brown; turns tail over 

 back; fond of frequenting brush piles. 



The observer of the birds who has caught a glimpse of this 

 wonderfully active little sprite in its favorite haunts — the 



depths of cool, dark woods along some tiny, tinkling rivulet 



may well esteem himself fortunate. To be sure it is rather 

 difficult to distinguish this bird from the House Wren, 

 Troglodytes aedon, but, once familiar with its various 

 characteristics, the problem is much simplified. Aedon is apt 

 to be the more neighborly, invading villages and towns and 



