100 



NOIITJI AMKItlCAX KIRDS. 



Cistotliorus pn' '"-is. 



into an anjjfiv and petulant cyv. 



Provinrt's, and from tlic Atlantic to Ww Tapper Missouri. It is nowhere 

 al)undant, and in many lavi^^e [>ortions of intervening territory has never 

 been found. 



It is exchisively an inhabitant of h>w, fresh-water marslies, open swamps, 



and nuiuhjws, is never found on hiizh 

 iiround, and is verv shv an<l dittieult of 

 jipprnaeh. It makes its fii-st appearanee 

 in Massachusetts earlvin Mav, and h'aves 

 I'arly in September. In winter it has 

 U'en found in all the (Julf States, from 

 Florida to Texas. 



According to Xuttall, this Wren has a 

 lively an<l tjuaint soni;, delivered ear- 

 nestlv and as if in haste, and at short 

 intervals, eitlier from a tuft of sedge or 

 from a low bush on tlie edixe of a marsh. 

 When apj>roaehed, the song becomes 

 liarsher and more hurried, and rises 

 In the early part of the season the male is 

 quite lively and nmsical. These Wrens spend their time chiefly in the long, 

 rank grass of the swamps and meadows searching for insects, their favorite 

 food. 



Their nest is constructed in the midst of a tussock of coarse hiiih crrass, 

 the to[)s of which are ingeniously interwoven into a coarse and strong cover- 

 ing, spherical in sha})e and closed on every side, except one small aperture 

 left f(»r an entrance. The strong wiry grass of the tussock is also interwoven 

 witli tiner materials, making the wliole impervious to the weather. The 

 inner nest is composed (»f grasses and finer sedges, and lined with soft, vege- 

 table (h)wn. The eggs are nine in nundier, ]»ure wliite, and rather small for 

 tlu^ l)ird. Thev are exceedinglv delicate and frauile. more so than is usual 

 even in the eggs of Humming- liirds. They are of an oval shape, and measure 

 .Go bv .4.") of an inch. 



^Ir. Xuttall conjectured that occasionally two females occu]»ied the same 

 nest, and states that he has known the male bird to busy itself in construct- 

 ing seveml nests, not more than one of which would be used. As these birds 

 rear a second brood, it is [)rol)able that these nests are built from an in- 

 stinctive desire to have a new (me in readiness for the second brood. This 

 peculiarity has l)een noticed in other Wrens, where the female sometimes 

 tul;es possession of the new abode, lays jind sits uj)on her second set of eggs 

 before her first brood are ready to fly, which are left to tlie charge of her 

 matt?. 



^Ir. Audulton found this Wren bleeding in Texas. Dr. Trudeau met tiiem 

 on the marshes of the Delaware IJiver, and their nest and eggs have been 

 sen.t to us from the Koskonong marshes of Wisconsin. It has also been found 



