SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. 277 



SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



CiSTOTHORUS STELLARIS. 



Char. Above, brown, very dark on crown and back, and streaked 

 everywhere with buffy ; wings and tail with dark bars ; below, buffy 

 white, paler on throat and belly ; breast and sides sliaded with brown 

 Length 4 to 4>^ inches. 



Nest. On the ground, amid a tuft of high grass, in fresh-water marsh or 

 swampy meadow ; composed of grass, lined with vegetable down. Usu- 

 ally the tops of surrounding grass are weaved above the nest, leaving an 

 entrance at the side. 



Eggs. 5-8; white; 0.65 X 0.50. 



This amusing and not unmusical little species inhabits the 

 lowest marshy meadows, but does not frequent the reed-flats. 

 It never visits cultivated grounds, and is at all times shy, timid, 

 and suspicious. It arrives in this part of Massachusetts about 

 the close of the first week in May, and retires to the South by 

 the middle of September at farthest, probably by night, as it is 

 never seen in progress, so that its northern residence is only 

 prolonged about four months. In winter this bird is seen from 

 South Carolina to Texas. 



His presence is announced by his lively and quaint song of 

 Vj-A ^tship, a day day day day, delivered in haste and earnest 

 at short intervals, either when he is mounted on a tuft of 

 sedge, or while perching on some low bush near the skirt of 

 the marsh. The 'tsh 'tship is uttered with a strong aspiration, 

 and the remainder with a guttural echo. While thus engaged, 

 his head and tail are alternately depressed and elevated, as if 

 the httle odd performer were fixed on a pivot. Sometimes the 

 note varies to 'tship 'tship 'ishia, dh' dK dh' dh\ the latter 

 part being a pleasant trill. When approached too closely, — 

 which not often happened, as he never permitted me to come 

 within two or three feet of his station, — his song became 

 harsh and more hurried, like ^ tship da, da da, and de de de de 

 d' d" dh, or tshe de de de de, rising into an angry, petulant cry, 

 sometimes also a low, hoarse, and scolding daigh daigh ; then 

 again on invading the nest the sound sank to a plaintive 'tsh 



