,8^1 Brewster on a New Mars// Wre??. 1\C) 



The essential points of difference between the three eastern 

 forms of the Long-billed Marsh Wren may be tabulated as 



follows : — 



A. — Size larger, bill stouter, the basal third or more of the lower 

 mandible flesh-colored. Brown of sides, flanks and upper parts clear 

 reddish. White of lower parts usually continuous from chin to cris- 

 sum. — C. palustris. 



B. — Size smaller, hill slenderer, the lower mandible horn-colored with, 

 at most, only the extreme basal portion flesh-colored. White of lower 

 parts usually interrupted by a band of dusky grayish or reddish spots or 

 clouding across the breast, and elsewhere confined to a comparatively 

 narrow central space by the encroachment of the brown or grayish of the 

 sides. 



i. — Black of the upper parts usually deeper and more extended than in 

 palustris and frequently covering practically the entire crown, nape and 

 most of the back. Brown of sides, flanks, and upper parts deep and rustv 

 with a tinge of olive. Under tail-coverts and frequently the flanks, sides, 

 and breast also, boldly marked with black or dusky spots or bars. — C. p. 

 tnariance. 



2. — Black of upper parts much duller and less extended than in palustris, 

 usually confined to the extreme sides of the crown and a short narrow area 

 in the middle of the back, and in extreme specimens almost wholly absent. 

 Brown of sides, flanks, and upper parts pale and grayish. Dark markings 

 of the under tail-coverts, flanks, sides, and breast faint, confused and 

 inconspicuous, sometimes practical^' wanting. — C. p. griseus. 



Whether or no C. p. mariancc and C.p.grise7is intergrade, and 

 what are their respective habitats during the breeding season, are 

 points on which my material throws no light. Intergradation is 

 certainly probable, but by no means certain, for if, as seems not 

 unreasonable, we may assume that mariancz is resident on, and 

 confined to, the Gulf Coast, and griseus equally restricted, at all 

 seasons, to the South Atlantic seaboard, their respective habitats 

 may be, for birds of such sedentary habits, practically isolated. If 

 this should prove true, one of the most curious features of the case 

 will be the fact that so very pale a form as this new Wren has 

 been developed in the salt marshes of Georgia and South Caro- 

 lina, where its associates, the Seaside Finches and Clapper Rails, 

 although of not dissimilar general coloring, are somewhat darker, 

 instead of much grayer, than their more northern representatives. 



