1124 Report of State Geologist. 



170. (iKNUS CIST0TH0RU5 Cabanis. 



a*. Bill about half as long as head; no white stripe over eye. 



Subgenus CisTOTHORi's. C. stellaris (Lioht. ). 303 



a'. Bill slender, about as long as iiead ; a conspicuous white stripe over the eye. 



Subgenus Telmatodvtes Cabanis. C. palustris ( Wils.). 304 



Subgenus Cistothorus. 



303. (724). Cistothorus stellaris (Light.). 



Short-billed Marsh Wren. 



Adult. — Bill very slender, less than a half inch long; "dark brown 

 above; crown and middle of the back, blackish, nearly everywhere 

 conspicuously streaked with white; below, huffy- white, shading into 

 pale brown on the sides and behind; wings and tail, barred with 

 blackish and light brown; flanks, barred with dusky; throat and mid- 

 dle of belly, whitish" (Mcllwraith). 



Length, 3.75-4.50; wing, 1.72-1.90;. tail, 1.58-1.70; bill, .40. 



Range. — North America, east of Plains, from Gulf States to south- 

 em New Hampshire, Ontario and western Manitoba. Breeds locally 

 throughout its range. Winters from Gulf States, south. 



Nest, in wild grass, 12 to 18 inches in height, or on ground; 

 placed S to 10 inches from top of grass; globular, hole in side, made 

 of dried grass, lined with down of cat-tails or other plants; the grow- 

 ing grass so woven over and around it that itis hard to see. Eggs, 

 5-8; white, unmarked; .G3 by .45. Two broods. 



The Short-billed Marsh Wren is a migrant and summer resident. 

 It breeds in restricted localities, where the marshes are suitable, and 

 in places is found in some numbers. It is much more numerous in 

 the northwestern portion of the State. They have been found breed- 

 ing in Putnam County. In the Whitewater Valley I have only found 

 it once. September 22 and 23, 1879, I saw several and took two 

 specimens from a swampy hollow about three miles from Brookville. 

 Mr. Ruthven Deane informs me a nest of this species, containing 

 eggs, was taken by an employe of their club at English Lake, the 

 spring of 1889. In the collection of Mr. G. Fream Morcom, Los 

 Angeles, Cal., is a set of five eggs of this Wren taken at Davis Station, 

 Ind., June 3, 1887. Mr. L. A. Test, of Lafayette, has received an egg 

 of this kind from Mr. B. F. Beekman, who took it from a nest near 

 Brunswick, Lake County, in the summer of 1893, Three nests were 

 found in the rank grass along a small ditch when they were maldng 

 hay. 1 am indebted to my friend, Mr. B. T. Gault, of Glen Ellyn, 

 111., for the following very carefully prepared notes on the Short-billed 



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