192 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Family TROGLODYTID^. The Wrens. 



" Rictal bristles wanting ; the loral feathers with bristly points ; the frontal feathers 

 generally not reaching to nostrils; nostrils varied, exposed or not covered by 

 feathers, and generally overhung by a scale-like membrane ; bill usually without 

 notch; wings much rounded, about equal to tail, which is graduated; primaries ten, 

 the first generally about half the second; basal joint of middle toe usually united to 

 half the basal joint of inner, and the whole of that of the outer, or more; lateral 

 toes about equal, or the outer a little the longer; tarsi scutellate." — Baird. 



CISTOTHORUS, Cabanis. 



Cistothorus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. (1850-51), 77. (Type Troglodytes stellaris.) 

 Bill about as long as the head or much shorter, much compressed, not notched, 

 gently decurved from the middle; the gonys slightly concave or straight; toes 

 reaching to the end of the tail; tarsus longer than the middle toe; hind toe longer 

 than the lateral, shorter than the middle, lateral toes about equal, hind toe longer 

 than or equal to its digit; wings rather longer than the tail, all the feathers of which 

 are much graduated, the lateral only two-thirds the middle; the feathers narrow; 

 back black, conspicuously streaked with white. 



CISTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS. — Caianis. 



The Long -billed Marsh Wren. 



CertJiia palustris, Wilson. Am. Orn., IL (1810) 58. 



Troglodytes palustris, Bonaparte. Obs. Wils. (1824), No. 66. Aud. Cm. Biog., 

 I. (1831) 500; V. (1839) 467. 



Thryothorus palustris, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 439. 



Description. 



Bill about as long as head; tail and wing nearly equal; upper parts of a dull 

 reddish-brown, except on the crown, interscapular region, outer surface of tertials, 

 and tail feathers, which are almost black, — the first with a median patch like the 

 ground-color; the second with short streaks of white, extending round on the sides 

 of the neck; the third indented with brown; the fourth barred with whitish, de- 

 creasing in amount from the outer feather, which is marked from the base to the 

 fifth, where it is confined to the tips; the two middle feathers above like the back, 

 and ban-ed throughout with dusky; beneath rather pure-white, the sides and under 

 tail coverts of a lighter shade of brown than the back ; a white streak over the eye. 



Length, five and fifty one-hundredths inches ; wing, two and eight one-hundredths 

 inches; tail, two inches. 



Hab. — North America from Atlantic to Pacific, north to Greenland. — Rein- 

 habdt. 



