NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 409 



coarse, high grass, the tops of which are ingeniously interwoven into a 

 coarse and strong covering, spherical in shape, and closed on every 

 side, except one small aperture left for entrance. The strong, wiry 

 grass of the tussock is also interwoven with finer materials, making the 

 whole impervious to the weather. The inner nest is composed of 

 grasses and fine sedges, lined with soft vegetable down. Several nests 

 are frequently built by a single pair of birds but not more than one is 

 used. 



The eggs are six to eight in number, are pure white, unmarked, 

 and average .64 x .50. A set of six in Mr. N orris' cabinet was taken 

 in Iowa county, Iowa, July 19, 1886; they measure .59 X 49, .67x47, 

 .63 x .46, .61 x 46, .62 x 46, .61 x 47. 



725. Gistothorus palustris (WILS.) [67.] 



Long-billed Marsh "Wren. 



Hab. Eastern United States and British Provinces, wintering in tke Gulf States. 



The Long-billed Marsh Wren is a common species in swampy 

 places and salt marshes throughout Eastern United States, where it 

 breeds in colonies of greater or less extent. The nest is globular, or 

 somewhat the shape of a cocoanut, very conspicuous by its 

 bulk and its exposed position. It is built of grasses and reeds 

 closely interwoven and often plastered with mud, securely fastened to 

 the upright swaying reeds or cat-tails ; it is lined with fine grasses, has 

 a hole on one side, sometimes nearer the bottom than the top. A 

 single pair of these birds will often build several nests, only one of 

 which is ever used. 



The eggs range from five to nine in number, usually five or six ; 

 they are very dark colored, being so thickly marked with brown as to 

 appear of a uniform chocolate color; average size .64x45, with con- 

 siderable variation. 



* * Cistothorus palustris paludicola BAIRD. [670.] 



Tule Wren. 



Hab. Western United States, east to the Rocky Mountains, south to Northern Central America 

 (Guatemala.) 



The nesting and eggs of this Western form of the Long-billed 

 Marsh Wren are the same as those of C. palustris of the Eastern 

 States. It nests more generally among the tules, more rarely among 

 the flags. Mr. Bryant makes note of a nest found in California which 

 contained eggs and was woven among the almost leafless branches of a 

 young willow, five feet above a fresh water marsh. The false nests 

 were built as usual, but in the coarse grass near by. 



