BIRDS — LIOTEICHIDAE CISTOTHOEUS STELLAEIS. 



365 



Sp. Ch. — Bill about as long as head. Tail and wing nearly equal. Upper parts of a dull reddish brown, except on the 

 crown, interscapular region, outer surface of tertials, and tail feathers, which are almost black : the first with a median patch 

 like the ground color ; the second with short streaks of white, extending round on the sides of the neck ; the third indented 

 with brown ; the fourth barred with whitish, decreasing in amount from the outer feather, which is marked from the base, to the 

 fifth, where it is confined to the tips ; the two middle feathers above like the back, and barred throughout with dusky. Beneath 

 rather pure white, the sides and under tail coverts of a lighter shade of brown than the back; a white streak over the eye. 

 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.08 ;ta^2. 00. (1454.) 



Hab. — ^North America from Mlantic to Pacific ; north to Greenland. (Reinhardt.) 



There is only a slight tendency to paler bars on the under parts, these being broad, very 

 obsolete, and confined to the sides. The under tail coverts are moderately spotted in a male. 

 In a female (1556) they are immaculate, and the black of the tail is less distinct ; the size is 

 considerably smaller ; the colors of the back brighter and more rufous. 



Specimens vary in the greater or less intensity of the lighter patch on the head, the crown 

 sometimes appearing nearly black. The rump is generally a little brighter than elsewhere ; 

 the upper tail coverts more or less distinctly barred. There is but little marking on the 

 primaries. 



In some western specimens there is a brownish tinge across the breast, but otherwise there is 

 but little difiference. No. '7141, from Shoalwater bay, has a shorter bill than any others in the 

 series before me. 



Eeinhardt (Vidensk. Meddel. for 1853, 81,) quotes "Troglodytes arundinacevs, Yieillot," as 

 found in Greenland. Yieillot's species of 1807 is really Thryothorus ludovicianus, but reference is 

 probably meant to his Thryothorus arundineus, which, as stated below, is the present species.^ 



* List of specimens. 



CISTOTHOEUB STELLAEIS, C a b a n i s . 



Short-billed Marsh Wren. 



Troglodytes stellaris, " Light." Naumann, Vogel Deutschl. Ill, 1823, 724. (Carolina.) 



Cistothorus stellaris, Cabanis, Mub. Hein. 1851, 77. Type. 



Troglodytesbrevirostris, Ndttall, Trans. Amer. Acad. Arts and ScNew Ser. 1, 1833, 98, with figure. Quoted In Manual, 



though date of volume is subsequent to 1832. — Ib. Manual, I, 1832, 436. — AuD. Orn. 



Biog. II, 1834, 427 : V, 1839, 469 ; pi. 175 —Ib, Syn. 1839, 76.— Ib. Birds Amer. II, 1841, 



138 ; pi. 124.— Bon. List, 1838.-^Ib. Consp. 1850, 220. 



Sp. Ch. — Bill very short, scarcely half the length of the head. Wing and tail about equal. Hinder part of the crown and 

 the scapular and interscapular region of the back and rump almost black, streaked with white. Tail dusky, the feathers barred 



iMost recent authors erroneously refer the Troglodytes arundinaceus o£ Yieillot in Ois. Am. Sept., to the present species. 

 The Thryothorus arundineus, or " Thryothore des Roseaux" of Vieillot, (Nouv. Diet.,) is really the same ; but on the same 

 page he expressly states that the Troglodytes arundinaceus, or " Troglodyte des Roseaux" of the Ois. Am. Sept., is identical 

 with SyteJu iurfoeiciajio of Latham, as would readily be inferred from the description and figure. The habits, as indicated, 

 were, however, probably based on palustris. 



