CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 705 



723. 1. Attu Wren. 



Olbiorchiltcs meligerus Oberholser. 1902. 



Attu island, Aleutian islands, Alaska, June 4th, 1894. Range, 

 the westernmost islands of the American group. (Oberholser in The 

 Auk, Vol. XVII., 1900.) 



CCLXXII. CISTOTHORUS Cabanis. 1850. 



724. Short-billed Marsh Wren. 



Cistothorus stellaris (Licht.) Cab. 1850. 



A male of this species was seen at London, Ont., in 1898, and 

 several old nests were found but no females were seen. A colony 

 was discovered and a specimen taken near the base of Point Pelee, 

 May 14th, 1905. It was inhabiting a long-grass marsh. (W. E. 

 Saunders.) I have two specimens of this bird taken by Mr. C. W. 

 Nash at Toronto. (/. H. Fleming.) On August 29th, 1891, I found 

 and secured an adult female of this species in an old field north of 

 Toronto, the bird was a long distance from any marsh or water ; on 

 June 7th, 1895, I captured an adult male in a wet meadow east of 

 Toronto; there were no rushes near this place, but the grass was 

 very rank. (C. W. Nash in The Auk, Vol. XIII., p. 347.) A male 

 was taken in a wet meadow at Norway House, June 20th ; from its 

 actions it probably had a nest in the vicinity, but despite a careful 

 search none was found. (E. A. Preble.) 



I found the birds to be rather plentiful along the Red river, in low 

 oozy ground, overgrown with scrub willows, and also in the reedy 

 sloughs of the prairie. They were undoubtedly breeding here, 

 though no nests were secured. My specimens were secured at Pem- 

 bina in June. (Coues.) A summer resident of erratic distribution 

 in Manitoba; soon after the ist of May, every little sedgy pool and 

 slough in the Assiniboine valley, from Carberry to Pelly, is vocal 

 with the merry chatter of this bird. The nest is a globular structure, 

 and judging by the one or two cases I have observed is generally 

 placed in a grass tuft; if there is any difference I think the short- 

 billed selects a drier situation for his home than the long-billed 

 marsh wren. (E. T. Seton.) A tolerably common summer resident 

 at Aweme, Manitoba. Arrives about the last of April. (Criddle.) 

 A few specimens seen at lakes ten miles south 'of Indian Head,Sask., 

 in May, 1892. (Spreadborough.) 

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