BIRDS OF NEW YORK 489 



written by Chapman as " Chup-chup-chup-chup, chup, chup-chup-chu p- 

 p-p-r-r-r-r." During the love season it expresses its feelings in a more 

 ambitious refrain, quite varied and musical, but still conspicuous for the 

 great amount of chuppering which enters into its composition. 



The nest is placed close to the ground in a dense bunch of grass or 

 sedges, is globular in structure with the entrance on one side, and is con- 

 structed of grasses, sedges and plant down. The eggs are from 6 to 8 

 in number, pure white in color, with thin, brittle shell, averaging .62 by .45 

 inches in dimensions. They are not so broad near the larger end as the 

 white eggs of the Long-billed wren. 



Telmatodytes palustris palustris (Wilson) 

 Long-billed Marsh Wren 



Plate 102 



Certhia palustris Wilson. Amer. Orn. 1810. 2:58. pi. 12, fig. 4 

 Troglodytes palustris DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 56, fig. 92 

 Telmatodytes palustris palustris A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. 

 p. 342. No. 725 



telmatodytes, Gr., swamp dweller; palustris, Lat., marshy 



Description. Upper parts brown, the crown and back almost black, 

 and the latter distinctly striped with white; a white stripe runs over the eye 

 to the side of the neck; under parts white tinged with ocherous on the sides, 

 flanks and under tail coverts; wing and tail barred with fuscous. 



Length 5.2 inches; extent 6.54; wing 1.75-2; tail 1.7; bill .52; tarsus .8. 



Distribution. The Long-billed marsh wren inhabits eastern United 

 States, breeding from southern Ontario and southern Quebec southward 

 to the Potomac and the coast of Virginia. Winters from southern New 

 Jersey to South Carolina and Florida. In New York this species is a com- 

 mon summer resident in all extensive marshes of the coast, Hudson river, 

 Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Niagara river and the central lakes. In the 

 marshes at the head and the foot of Canandaigua lake, at the outlet of 

 Seneca lake and the head of Seneca and Cayuga lakes, the whole length 

 of Seneca river, Tonawanda swamp and the Niagara river it is a very 

 abundant species, arriving in the spring from the 4th to the 16th of May, 



