Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri. 251 



*724. CiSTOTHORus STELLARis (Licht.)- Short-biUed Marsh 

 Wren. 



Troglodytes brevirostris. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States and southern Canada, 

 north to southern New Hampshire, southern Ontario, southern 

 Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Manitoba, and Assiniboia; 

 west to eastern Nebraska, Dakotas, Kansas, Utah. Winters in 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



In Missouri a fairly common summer resident in the marshes 

 of the Mississippi and Missouri flood plains and locally in the 

 prairie region north and west, nesting in marsh grass on nearly 

 dry ground and easily overlooked when not in song which may 

 be mistaken for that of the Dickcissel. In the '^Spartina'' 

 marshes of St. Charles Co. the globular nests are placed in a 

 bunch of that grass near the ground, are made entirely of the 

 blades of that grass and are hidden by drawing together the 

 still standing blades of last year's grow1:h. It reaches its breed- 

 ing grounds in the last week of April and first of May and re- 

 mains till November (October 29, 1893, Keokuk). In migra- 

 tion individuals may be met with in places where it is not known 

 to breed and in unexpected locations, as in shrubbery by the way- 

 side in the outskirts of St. Louis. A rather remarkable occur- 

 rence is the one reported by Mr. E. Seymour W^oodruff, May 14, 

 1907, from Shannon Co., a mountainous region originally covered 

 by an unbroken forest. 



*725d. Telmatodytes palustris iliacus Ridgw. Prairie 

 Marsh Wren. 



Troglodytes palustris. Cistothorus palustris. Telmatodytes palustris (part). 



Geog. Dist. — Mississippi Valley and northward to Manitoba; 

 east to western Indiana. In winter from western Florida to 

 Vera Cruz along Gulf Coast. This subspecies has only lately 

 been separated from an eastern and a western form, not to 

 mention three more subspecies of the coast regions of South 

 Carolina, Georgia and western Florida, and the Tule Wren 

 of the Pacific coast. 



The Prairie Marsh Wren, generally known by the old name 

 Long-billed Marsh Wren, is a locally common summer resident 

 in lakes and sloughs in which the Cat-tail family, Typha and 

 Sparganium, grows in abundance. Its globular nests are placed 

 in these reeds above water and are made of the dead leave 



