THE OOLOGIST. 



125 



Marsh Wrens are stellarisP'' What a 

 confession to make! All my life long I 

 have confounded the note of C. stellaris 

 with that of C. paluslris! 



I have thought it strange the Marsh 

 Wrens were not nesting in the tall weeds 

 and cat tails. But now, with the proof 

 of identity and with mere book knowl- 

 edge and data information to guide me, 

 I go at once a'searching, and, within 

 twenty minutes, have located at least 

 five pairs of Short-billed Marsh Wrens, 

 each with from three to five true nests 

 and mock nests. And this was all I 

 found; though it was June 20; but this 

 was enough. 



The third morning was the next 

 morning, so eager was I to follow up 

 my find. More mock nests but no eggs. 

 Clear across the marsh I go, and hop- 

 ing to turn the tide, I make ready the 

 line. The hand end is stayed, and I 

 start out to fasten the anchor end;when 

 with lusty flapping and frantic quack- 

 ing, a female Mallard rises from the 

 grass, not six feet from me. It takes 

 but a minute to single out the bog in 

 which lie the incomplete set of six eggs. 

 The late date, the slovenly nest, and 

 the entire absence of down indicates a 

 second set. And this, to my great cha- 

 grin, was afterward deserted, for no 

 apparent reason. The third set, also, 

 was violated, judging from the finding 

 of a half eaten Mallard egg, on the 

 marsh, ten days after the discovery of 

 the above nest. 



Strange, is it not, how fortune often 

 * 'bunches" her favors! Ten minutes 

 after the Mallard find, I was seai'ching, 

 ■on hands and knees, for the nest of a 

 Bobolink which the rope had flushed. 

 I had just begun to conclude that the 

 bird had only been feeding, when, be- 

 neath a broad leaf of marsh marigold I 

 caught a glimpse of egg;s. Eggs'i I 

 should say so, there were seven of them, 

 and this, too, a clear grounded and 

 heavily blotched set, very uniform in 

 pattern. Altogether, this nest contain- 



ed the best combined evidences of 

 fecundity and cunning I have ever seen. 

 But, here I am, late to breakfast! 



June 22 is my favorite morning, and 

 what a morning! Passing beautiful, and 

 rich in results. Naturally, by this date, 

 I am anxious about the Marsh Wren 

 eggs; and this morning's search is ex- 

 clusively devoted to them. I explore, 

 minute]3^ ground gone over a few days 

 ago. Almost mechanically a rough 

 nest lying under foot is- examined, but 

 my exploring finger touches eggs, a 

 number of them . Gently they are rolled 

 out on the palm of my hand. "One, 

 two, three," eigrAi of them ! Unusually 

 rounded ovate, they resemble minature 

 Bob-white eggs, but for their purer 

 whiteness. Incubation far advanced, 

 but so rare and rarely large a set must 

 be saved, and I saved it. Not ten min- 

 utes later another nest was found, 

 above the marsh line among rather tall 

 weeds. A rough nest, beaten down by 

 me in previous passing. It contained 

 six incubated eggs. 



Starting homeward, I passed within 

 a few yards of the Mai-sh Hawk nest. 

 When nearly opposite, I flushed a spar- 

 row, Song Sparrow, one would bay. 

 But a certain niceness about the nest 

 and a delicateness of coloring about the 

 eggs induced me to drop out of sight in 

 the grass; and, after many minutes, a 

 cautious bird appeared; and I noted the 

 ashy throat and unspotted breast of the 

 Swamp Sparrow. 



The eggs were the most exquisite, of 

 this species, that I have ever seen; one 

 of the three, a fourth had been broken, 

 being almost a clear blue, the smaller 

 end delicately marbled with a broad 

 circlet of pale lilac. A parasitic Cow- 

 bird egg in the nest revealed the cause 

 of the broken egg. Why are delicately 

 marked and colored eggs so often frag- 

 ile? With utmost care in blowing, 

 though incubation was not very far ad- 

 vanced, these eggs all burst, while a 

 second set, by the same bird, found by 



