TBOGLODYTID^E THE WRENS AND MOCKING-THRUBHES. 99 



right grass- or sedge-stems, and is of globular form, with the entrance 

 a small hole in the side. The eggs, however, are pure white, with- 

 out markings, instead of deep chocolate-brown, or densely speckled 

 with the same on a lighter ground. 



Subgenus Telmatodytes Cabanis. 

 Cistothorus palustris (Wils.) 



LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



Popular synonyms. Grass Wren; Stink-bird (N. E. Ills.) 



Certhia palustris WrLS. Am. Orn. ii. 1810, 58, pi. 12, fig. 4. 



Troglodytes palustris Bonap. Jour. Phila. Ac. iv, 1824, 30. Sw. & RICH. F. B. A. ii.1831, 

 319. AUD. Orn. Biog. i. 1831, 500, pi. 100: Synop. 1839, 77; B. Am. ii, 1841, 135, pi. 123. 

 -NuTT. Man. i. 1832, 439; 2d ed. i. 1840, 496. 

 Cistothorus palustris BAIBD, B. N. Am. 1858. 364; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 268; Review 



1864, 147.-B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B.. i. 1874, 161, pi. 9, fig. 6. 



Telmatodytes palustris COUES. Key, 1872, 87; Check List, 1873, No. 51; 2d ed. 1882. No. 

 79; B. N. W. 1874, 34; B. Col. Val. 1878. 178 (part).-Rn>GW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881. No. 

 67. 



HAB. Eastern North America, breeding nearly throughout its range, and wintering in 

 the Southern States; accidental in Greenland. (Replaced in the West by the race or sub- 

 epecies paludicola, Baird.) 



"Sp. CHAR. Bill about as long as head. Tail and wing nearly equal. Upper parts of a 

 dull reddish brown, except on the crown, interscapular region, outer surface of tertials, 

 and tail feathers, which are almost black; the first with a median patch like the ground 

 color; the second with short streaks of white, extending round on the sides of the neck; 

 the third indented with brown; the fourth barred with whitish, decreasing in amount 

 from the outer feather, which is marked from the base, to the fifth, where it is confined to 

 the tips; the two middle feathers above like the back, and barred throughout with dusky. 

 Beneath rather pure white, the sides and under tail-coverts of a lighter shade of brown 

 than the back; a white streak over the eye. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.08; tail. 2.00." (Hist. N. 

 Am. B.) 



The Long-billed Marsh Wren is an abundant bird in suitable 

 localities, which consist of marshes or swamps grown up with rank 

 sedges and grasses, to the upright stems of which its curious nest 

 is attached. The species occurs throughout the State, and some- 

 times winters in the extreme southern portion. Although usually 

 fastening the nest to upright sedge- or reed-stalks, the writer has 

 found several that were built in small willow trees, at heights vary- 

 ing from six to fifteen feet above high tide. This was in the 

 marshes of the Potomac river, near the foot of Analostan Island, 

 opposite Washington, D. C., where the species is excessively abun- 

 dant. 



