TELMATODYTES PALUSTRIS, LOXG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 35 



1866, 283.— COUES, Pr. Pliiia. Acad. ISGfi, 79.— CouES, Pr. Ess. Inst, t, 1868, 

 278.— MclLWii., ihid. V, 1866, 87.— Coop., B. C;il. 187(1, 75.— Ali.kx, Bull. M. C. 

 Z. ii, 1871, 2(17 ; iii, 1872, 175.— Aikex, Pr, Bost. Soc. ^-^-, 1872, 196.— Mayn., 

 Guide, 187(1, 98; B. Fla. 1872, 42.— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 6. 



TdmaioHytes puhistris, Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 18(j8, 108.— CoUES, Pr. Pbila. Acad. 

 1871, 20.— Coi-ES, Key, 1872, 87. 



Ti'imaiodtjtes anindliKicciis, Cab., Mns. Hein. i, 1850, 78. 



Thryoihorus (u-undiiiuccKS, Bi"., Consp. i, 18.'0, 220. 



Th-yolhoruH ariindineiis, Vieile., Nouv. Diet, xxxiv, 1819, 58. 



Cisiolkorus puhistris var. iMhidicoia, Bd., Rev. 1864, 148 (West coast). 



Bah. — In siiitabJe places tlirougbout temperate Nortli America, breeding througbout 

 its range ; wintering along our southern border aud southward. Greenland. Mexico. 

 Guatemala. 



Lit uteiiant Warren'f: Expedition.— 8838, Sand Hills; 4744, mouth of Big Sioux River. 



Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition, nor by the later ones. 



This little bird requires a particular condition of surface, which, when 

 met, renders it largely independent of geographical limitations. It in- 

 habits, exclusively, reedy swamps and mar.shes, nearly throughout the 

 continent, and is extremely abundant in the more favorable situations. 

 In most latitudes it is a migrant, but as it breeds throughout its raagej 

 only a part of the individuals passing north for this j>urpose, the remain- 

 der spending the year in their winter homes in the South. It is resident 

 in South Carolina, though the greater number go on northward to breed. 

 On the jSTorth Carolina coast I found it abundant during the migrations, 

 aud observed it through a part of November, so that possibly some 

 winter as far north as this. In the extensive marshes along the Poto- 

 mac, overgrown with Zizania aqiiaiica, it finds a congenial home ; and in 

 some spots scores of the nests may be seen at once. It reaches this 

 latitude about the middle of April, and remains into October. In ISTew 

 England this Wren is only a summer visitor, chiefly along the coast, and 

 it is rare, if really occurring, north of Massachusetts. ISTone of the 

 Maine or New Hampshire lists include it. In the West I found it breed- 

 ing abundantly in a reedy swamp near Fort Whipple, Arizona, where it 

 arrives in April and remains until November. According to Dr. Cooper, 

 it winters in the Colorado Valley, as high as Fort Mojave. On the Pa- 

 cifio coast the same writer speaks of its wintering north to the Colum- 

 bia, wherever there is a marsh overgrown with tule {Scirpus palustris). 

 I never seen it in the Missouri region, but Dr. Hayden reports its occa- 

 sional occurrence in marshy places along the river. Prof. Snow, Mr. 

 Allen, and Mr. Aiken, note its occurrence in Kansas and Colorado. 



The uidification of the Marsh Wren is not the least interesting part 

 of its history. It builds a large bulky nest of the tops of coarse grasses 

 and reeds, bent together and woven into a hollow ball, with a little hole 

 in one side, and fastens this globe to the upright stems of the growing 

 reeds, several of which usually pass through its substance. The ball is 

 lined with finer grasses ; it is tolerably compact, yet there are often long 

 shreds hanging from it, giving it rather a slovenly appearance. The 

 number of these structures that may sometimes be observed in a small 

 piece of marsh, within a few feet of each other, is astonishing, and ap- 

 parently out of all prox)ortion to the size of the colony inhabiting the 

 patch of reeds. This has occasioned the surmise that more nests are 

 built than are actually used, the idea being that the nervous, energetic 

 little creatures keep on building while the females are incubating, to 

 amuse themselves, or because they have nothing particular to do and 

 cannot keep still. However this may be, the old nests last a year or so 

 before they decay and fall to pieces, which may partly account for the 

 great numbers to be seen. The eggs, as usual, are numerous — six or 

 eight — sometimes so manv as. to induce the suSnicion th^'t they were not 



