e 
Birds of Massachusetts. 145 
S 
not known as a distinct species, till it was described 
by the unwearied Nuttall. It should have borne his 
name ; but that will be so identified with the science 
as to need no such commemoration. It is known to 
boys by its song, chip-a-day-day, which is so often 
heard in the meadows. He describes its nest as 
made of sedge, bent from the top of a grassy tuft, 
and forming a spherical arbor, with an entrance on 
the side. He remarks, that in a nest containing 
seven eggs, three of them were larger than the rest, 
and were fresh, while the other four were far ad- 
vanced toward hatching. From this he inferred that 
two different birds had laid in the same nest. There 
seems no great need of crowding thus, since the 
male employs himself in building nests, a great part 
of which are neither wanted nor used. This species, - 
which has been confounded with the following, re- 
mains with us from May till September. 
The Sarr-warkR Marsan Wren, Troglodytes 
palustris, is found on marshes and the borders of 
rivers near the sea, but is not so common as the pre- 
ceding. This bird is quick and active in its motions, 
and in its song resembles the last described. The 
nest is formed of wet rushes twisted into each other, 
and filled in with mud, in the shape of a cocoa-nut, 
with an opening in the side. The eggs are from six 
to eight, of a color approaching to mahogany. Nut- 
tall thought that this bird hardly ever came nearer 
than New York; but Dr. Storer has found its nest 
and eggs at Barnstable, in our State. 
VOL. IIIL.—NO. 1-1. 
