260 
NESTS 'AND EGGS OF 
the first week of April, and it is not long before the birds have spread 
themselves over the country. They reach the Potomac about the middle of 
the month, Pennsylvania towards the close, and New England about the 
first of May. When the season is forward, individuals are often met with 
in the latitude of Philadelphia and Central New York early in April. 
Upon its arrival it seeks inland swamps, or the brackish marshes of 
the seashore, where, amid the splatterdocks of the former, and reeds of the 
latter, it finds suitable shelter. Here day in and day out, during their 
entire stay, these birds pursue the even tenor of their lives, happy and con- 
tented, never caring, like many of their remoter kin, for the charmed circle 
of man. Active, enei-getic and buoyant with life and hope, they skip 
about the tall, rank vegetation, in every conceivable direction, in quest of 
insects. Their food consists of grasshoppers, small aquatic grubs, and such 
like, which they cajDture with considerable dexterity. If you should be 
unconsciously led to the favorite haunts of the species, you at once be- 
come aware of its presence by the lively, chattering song which emanates 
from within, and, ere long, you are repaid, if you take any special pains 
to insinuate yourself within the reeds, by a sight of the quaint, little crea- 
ture, as he dodges, like some grotesque apparition, in and out among the 
interlacing grasses. This song, which has been compared by Wilson to a 
low crackling sound, somewhat analogous to air bubbles forcing their way 
through boggy ground, and by Audubon, to the grating noise of a rusty 
hinge, is most difficult of expression. It resembles more nearly the sounds 
of an insect than those of a bird, and is a low, harsh cry, lacking both 
harmony and force of expression. 
As these birds reach their breeding-grounds early in May, and in- 
stantly repair to nest-building, it is safe to assume that mating had been 
celebrated in their far-off southern homes, or is a matter that is entered 
into with but little show or affectation. Frequent visits to their haunts, 
at such times when one would expect to gain information on this point, 
have always been rewarded by seeing the busy creatures at work upon 
their nest. Their early movements are so secret and mysterious, that we 
