MARSH-WRENS. 95 



musical bretliren. This is formed outwardly of wet 

 rushes, mixed with mud, well intertwisted, and fashioned 

 into the form of a cocoanut. A small hole is left two 

 thirds up, for entrance, the upper edge of which projects 

 like a penthouse over the lower, to prevent the admis- 

 sion of rain. The inside is lined with fine, soft grass, 

 and sometimes with feathers; and the outside, when 

 hardened by the sun, resists every kind of weather. 

 This nest is generally suspended among the reeds, above 

 the reach of the highest tides, and is tied so fast in every 

 part to the surrounding reeds as to bid defiance to the 

 winds and the \vaves." 



This elaborate description is but partly correct of the 

 thousands of nests annually built in the Crosswicks 

 marshes. Wilson, it will be noticed, refers to excellence 

 "in the art of design;" let me add, that, during the 

 construction of the nest, there is also abundant evidence 

 of the possession of conversational powers. Indeed, it 

 would be impossible for these birds to build such nests 

 unless they possessed the power of communicating their 

 thoughts. In this case, it is by spoken and not gesture 

 language. As I have had occasion, in another connec- 

 tion, to remark, I have seen one of these birds adjust- 

 ing one end of a long blade of rush-grass, while its 

 mate held the other, until the former had completed 

 the task to his satisfaction. It was evident that the 

 weight of the ribbon -like growth, quite a metre in 

 length, was too heavy to be moved to and fro, and at 

 the same time prevented from slipping from the un- 

 finished nest. Only by assistance could such materials 

 be utilized, and only by intelligent joint labor could 



