CHARACTERS OP SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN 181 



Hab. — Chiefly eastern province of the United States ; observed, however, 

 north to Massachusetts and JIanitoba (Coaes), and west to Nebraska (Sayden) 

 and even Utah {HensJtaw). Winters in the Southern States. Var. elegmis 

 from Mexico and Guatemala. 



Oh. sp. — (? 2 Brunneus, pileo dorsoque alho et nigro striatis, 

 rostro brevissimo. 



I? 9 r Upper parts brown, the crown and most of the back Idaolsish, streaked 

 with white. Below whitish, shaded with clear brown across the breast and 

 along the sides, and especially on the flanks and crissnm, the latter more or 

 less indistinctly barred with dusky (often inappreciable). A whitish line 

 over the eye. Wings and tail marked as in the last species. Upper tail- 

 coverts decidedly barred. Bill blackish above, whitish below, extremely 

 small, scarcely half as long as the head; feet brown. Length, 4J; extent, 

 6 ; wing and tail each about If ; bill, 3—?-. 



The streaking of the head and that of the back are usually separated by a 

 plain nuchal interval ; but these areas often run together, the whole bird 

 above being streaked with whitish and blackish upon a brown ground. 

 The wings, tail, and entire under parts are much like those of C. palmtrh, 

 from which the species is immediately distinguished by the markings of 

 the upper parts and extremely short bill, which is less than half an inch long. 



UISTTIL within a year or two, the Short-billed Marsh Wren 

 has been supposed to be entirely an eastern species, the 

 most western locality quoted being Nebraska, where Dr. Hay den 

 found the bird many years ago. One result of Mr. H. W. 

 Henshaw's observations in the West has been to ascertain its 

 occurrence in Utah. " While at Provo, Utah," says this writer, 

 " we received undoubted evidence of its existence in the marshes 

 of the river, where it lived in company with the preceding 

 [the Long-billed] species. Although no individuals were 

 actually captured, nests and eggs were seen which had been 

 secured in this locality.'' Thi.s is as satisfactory evidence as 

 if the bird itself had been secared, for — as should be mentioned 

 even in the most cursory notice of the bird — the eggs difi'er 

 from those of all its congeners in being pure white, without 

 mariiings. This record enables me to bring the species into 

 the present connection, as one of the rarities of the Coloradan 

 bird fauna. 



What little information I have been able to add to the, com- 

 mon store from my observations will be found in my other 

 book ; it relates chiefly to the abundance of the bird in certain 

 interior regions, in comparison with its apparent rarity along 

 the Atlantic seaboard. 



