The Marsh Is a Hotel 



21 



Spring (violet-crecn swallow, 



RED-WINO) 



Summer, 



-=«-- (TftAlU FLVCATCHlfe, 



- . VELLOW-THROM) l2'<-.^,v^/l /, 





Autumn -^ - 



(apEEN-WlN«E.I> TE/U-,. — <-. 

 4IUATER VELUPW-t-ECTS) 



WINTER 

 LESSER icflup 



H~C.^ 



used for it. Guests come and go. There are several different 

 classes. They appear at fairly definite dates and stay for quite 

 regular periods. The tule wrens belong to one class of regular 

 guests— birds which come to the marsh early each spring and 

 use its facilities for nesting and raising their families, and 

 when this is done return in late summer to the southern dis- 

 trict from which they have come. Other species come to the 

 marsh for this same purpose. And still others pass through in 

 migration, or casually, or because they are storm driven. I 

 venture the opinion that at least one hundred thousand birds 

 annually visit the area. 



The registry of birds visiting this marsh hotel is quite as 

 definite and regular, I feel safe in saying, as that of any city 

 hotel. And of course when I say birds, I do not refer to 

 individuals, but kinds. There is no practical way of distin- 

 guishing individuals except by banding. For most of our 



