630 THE BIRDS OP MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



wren is espied, for they creep and scramble about like mice in the 

 tangled herbage along the sloughs. Many a time I have marked one 

 as it entered a small tussock and then, expecting to flush it, I have 

 gone over and kicked the tussock in vain ; the bird had slipped out at 

 the other side, and was probably watching me from behind a rushroot 

 a yard or two removed. 



When singing, it is usually seen clinging to the side of some tall 

 swinging reed, with its tail bent back so as to almost touch its head, 

 thus exhibiting in a most exaggerated manner a characteristic attitude 

 of all the wrens. 



The nest is a globular structure, and judging by the one or two 

 cases that I have observed is generally placed in a grass tuft. If 

 there is any difference, I think the Short-billed selects a dryer situation 

 for his home than the Long-billed Marsh Wren. 



253. Cistothorus palustris. Long-billed Marsh Wren. 



Summer resident of marshes. Winnipeg : (Summer resident ; toler- 

 ably common (Hine). Have noticed it from Selkirk to the Souris, par- 

 ticularly at Shoal Lake, north of Winnipeg, where they appear to be 

 very common (Huuter). Oak Point: 1884, arrived May 15 (Small). 

 Portage la Prairie : 1884, common summer resident (Nash). Abundant; 

 breeding; at Winnipeg ; at Waterhen Eiver (Macoun). Never found at 

 Carberry, or in any part of the Upper Assiniboine, so far as I know 

 (Thompson). 



254. Certhia familiaris americaiia. Brown Creeper. 



Very rare; summer resident of woodlands. North to Eed Eiver 

 Settlement (Eidg way). Winnipeg: Summer resident; rare (Hine). 



255. Sitta carolinensis aculeata. Slender-billed Nuthatch. 



Somewhat rare; summer resident of woodlands; its distribution 

 seems to be much the same as that of the oak ( Q. macrocarpa). Win- 

 nipeg: Summer resident; rare (Hine). Portage la Prairie: Common; 

 chiefly in spring and fall (Nash). Carberry: Summer resident (W. G, 

 A. Brodie). Eare in the spruce bush south of Carberry ; seen in fall 

 chiefly; Eat Portage in fall (Thompson). Was not an abundant species, 

 but I brought home one specimen taken at Carberry in summer, 1883 

 (Christy). 



On October 24, 1884, I was guided in the woods to a nuthatch by 

 the sound of his hammering, which was so loud that I attributed it to 

 the Hairy Woodpecker. I watched for a few seconds and found that 

 he was busied "hatching" a hazlenut, which he had fixed in a crevice 

 of the bark. Then I came near, whereupon the bird, fearing I should 

 become troublesome, endeavored to take his nut and go elsewhere, but 



