98 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



am sure I have seen the same bird, presumably a male, 

 enter first one nest and then another, carrying food to 

 the young that they contained. The liability to err in 

 such observations is obviously great, but it would be no 

 surprise were it to be determined beyond question that 

 some super-gallant wren had the responsibilities of two 

 mates and two nests resting upon him. Considering 

 the energy, restlessness, and wealth of animal spirits, 

 nothing that a wren does need excite surprise. 



A few words in conclusion about the far less com- 

 mon, short-billed species. Occasionally, I have had the 

 good-fortune to find an isolated cluster of rank, aquatic 

 growth tenanted by a colony of these birds. They are 

 true wrens, every inch of them ; quick, restless, high- 

 tempered, and brimming over with botli song and chat- 

 ter. Of the song, perhaps more can be said than of 

 that of the preceding. It is fairly soft, varied, and to 

 a certain extent wren-like ; but is certainly not fully ex- 

 pressive of that wealth of energy characterizing the 

 bird, or its kindred, the house and Carolina wrens. So 

 far as I have had opportunity to observe, these wrens 

 are more retiring than their long -billed cousins, and 

 stay closer to their nests and the surrounding reeds; 

 often singing while clambering through them, some- 

 thing the other species never appears to do. This, 

 possibly, may have arisen from the proximity of a much 

 larger colony of the allied species ; and there certainly 

 is no surplus of good-feeling existing between them. 1 

 have seen them quarrel, and never found the nests of 

 the two species in the same cluster of rushes. 



The nests of these short - billed wrens do not differ 



