BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 431 
wrens, which by my presence was thrown into most excitable 
activity. They are at a disadvantage when on the wing, these 
appendages seeming scarcely able to support their obese bodies, 
for they fly as though weighted like a bee returning to a hive 
heavily laden. Instinctively they fly toward the friendly sup- 
port of some tall weed where, as if feeling more secure on their 
feet than in the air, they resume their antics, hanging their 
heads downward, twirting their tails, jumping from one reed 
to another, and each bird apparently communicating its rest- 
lessness ¢o its neighbor until the whole colony is in a state of 
ferment. They do not alight gracefully like most birds, but 
seem to tumble into the weeds.” This would seem to indicate 
that the Short-billed Marsh Wrens are more abundant in the Red 
river country than almost anywhere else in our special field of 
' investigations. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill very short, scarcely half the head; wings and tail about 
equal; hinder part of the crown, scapular, and interscapular 
region of the back and rump, almost black, streaked with 
white; tail dusky, the feathers barred throughout with brown; 
upper parts, with the exceptions mentioned, reddish brown. 
Length, 4.50; wing, 1.75; tail, 1.75. 
Habitat, eastern United States, west to the Plains. 
CISTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS (Witson). (725.) 
LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 
From every section of the State not personally visited, I 
have the uniform testimony of the abundance of this species. 
The migrations are indeterminately synchronous with the 
Short-bills, and their haunts and breeding places the same in 
both species, except that the nests of this is found nearer the 
edges of the marsh. If anything, it is also a little the larger 
of the two, and is suspended on the coarse, strong reeds, fairly 
above all dangers from high waters overflowing the banks of 
sluggish streams that meander the swamps and marshes. In 
the exterior construction, rushes and coarse grass are closely 
interwoven, and the interstices neatly filled with mud, giving 
it a very artistic, compact appearance, in size nearly six inches 
in diameter. About one-third below the top a small hole for 
entrance is left, overhung by a projection or canopy to exclude 
the rain. Internally the nest is lined with fine grass, feathers 
and vegetable down. They rear two broods in a season, form- 
ing a new nest for each brood. From six to ten eggs is about 
