100 



passing North, late in April (24-29). In Southern Indiana they are most numer- 

 ous from October 8 to December 1, and from March 7 to April 24. In the White- 

 water Valley they are not often seen through December, January and February, 



Winter Wren, nat. size. 



but seem to be tolerably common at that season in the lower Wabash Valley. 

 These little Wrens are most often seen about clearings, thickets, old fence rows, 

 etc. While they are occasionally found about dwellings, they are not common. 



GENUS CISTOTHORUS CABANIS. 

 Subgenus CISTOTHORUS. 



288. Cistothorus stellaris (Licht.). SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



Hare migrant southward ; rare summer resident. I have no account of its 

 breeding within the State. The only time it has been taken in Franklin County 

 was September 23, 1879, when several were seen and two taken in a swampy ravine 

 three miles from Brookville. Mr. J. K. Slonaker reports it from Vigo County May 

 8, 1889. Mr. H. K Coale has twice reported it from Lake County, once July 4, 

 1881. Mr. Alexander Black has taken it in Putnam County. Mrs. Jane L. Hine has 

 noted it April 24, 1888, from Dekalb County. They are quiet, retiring birds, 

 frequenting the reedy margins of sloughs and the smaller lakes. They have been 

 found breeding throughout Illinois (Ridgway) and at St. Mary's Reservoir, Ohio 

 (Dury). 



Subgenus TELMATODYTES Cabanis. 



*289. Cistothorus palustris ( Wils). LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



Summer resident, abundant northward ; not so numerous southward. Outside of 

 the lower Wabash valley I do not know that it has been found as a summer resident 

 in the southern half of the State, but is occasionally seen as a migrant. Mr. Ridg- 

 way informs me of its breeding in Knox and Gibson counties. It breeds in Vigo 

 County (Evermann); also throughout the northern part of the State among the 

 dges, grasses and reeds of marshy places. Where suitable localities are numerous 

 ihe birds breed abundantly. They are said to build quite a number of houses be- 

 ore they occupy one. Mr. J. Graf ton Parker says : " Hardly one nest in twenty 

 ontains eggs. The birds must build many nests before laying, as the nests are 

 much more plentiful than the birds." Dr. Raymond has told me of similar obser- 

 vations in Kosciusko County. Mr. E. W. Nelson says : " While the female is in- 

 cubating, the male is constantly employed upon the construction of several unfin- 

 ished nests, until often a pair may boast the possesison of a dozen unoccupied tene- 

 mentP." (Bull. Essex Inst, Vol. VIII, 1876, p 97) They pass north from April 



