THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 209 



fifths by one half an inch in size. There are two broods 

 each season. 



The birds are at home all over the United States; they 

 arrive in New Jersey about the first of May and leave 

 shortly after the first of October. 



Their song is a sudden, frequently repeated and ab- 

 ruptly .ending, roulade; the alarm note is chit-chit-chit- 

 ch it. 



Government reports show that 98 per cent, of 

 the food is animal matter and 2 per cent, grass, 

 sand and bits of wood; one-half of the animal food is 

 composed of grasshoppers and beetles and the other half 

 of caterpillars, bugs and spiders. 



Wren, Long-billed *JIarsh. Length, five and one- 

 fourth inches; extent, seven inches; bill, one-half an inch, 

 dark above, light below; centre of head, brown, blackish 

 on the sides; white line over the eye; back, black, with 

 white streaks; shoulders, brown; breast, white; rump, 

 brown; sides, white, washed with light brown; tail and 

 wings, brown, barred with white and black; feet, brown. 



The nest, large for a bird of this size, is spherical in 

 form, resembling a ball fastened to reeds or bushes; the 

 entrance is from the side. It is made of grasses, sedge 

 and reed stalks and lined with finer grasses. The eggs are 

 from five to nine in number, of a light brown, with deep- 

 er brown spots, and two-thirds by one-half an inch in size. 



The birds breed throughout eastern North America 

 and spend the winter in the Southern States; they are 

 very plentiful in the cat-tail swamps along the rivers and 

 coast and a few remain all the year in Cape May county. 



They rarely occur above tide water. 



Their song resembles that of the House Wren, but is at 

 times wiry and harsh. 



The food of the birds consists of insects, principally 

 those frequenting swamps and rivers. 



If Veil. Short-billed *Jlarsh. Length, four inches; ex 



