186 Contributions tfROH the Charleston Museum. 



The great majority of the specimens that I have taken in South 

 Carolina have the flanks conspicuously barred with blackish. 



289. Telmatodytes palustris (Wils.). Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren. 



The wrens of the genus Telmatodytes are a puzzling group, 

 of which four forms occur on this coast, though only one breeds. 

 This species is darker above and whiter beneath than T. p. iliacus, 

 but not as dark as T. p. mariance, while it differs from T. p. griseus — 

 the breeding form — in being larger, browner, and with more 

 black on the pileum and back. 



This form is an abundant autumn, winter, and late spring 

 visitant. My earliest record is September 4, 1895, and the latest 

 May 17, 1897. During the migrations it is most abundant in 

 October and April, when it is commonly found on the salt marshes. 

 In winter, however, the birds prefer the freshwater marshes 

 on the rice plantations, and I have seen more than a hundred 

 individuals in the course of a few hours in such situations. The 

 birds are in full song towards the last of March. 



This form breeds from Virginia to Massachusetts. 



290. Telmatodytes palustris griseus (Brewst.). Worthing- 

 ton's Marsh Wren. 



I have been well acquainted with this little bird ever since 

 my boyhood days, and it was my delight to bog in the marshes 

 at Vardell's and Paine's Creeks, near Charleston, in company with 

 my schoolmate, Mr. B. F. Evans, and others, in search of the nest 

 and eggs of the "Tom Tit," as this wren was known. In those 

 days the birds fairly swarmed throughout the high marshes 

 bordering these creeks and it was not uncommon to find from 

 twenty-five to fifty nests in a few hours of careful search. On 

 several occasions, between the years 1877 and 1879, I remember 

 distinctly having found pure white eggs of this form with a speck 

 or two of purplish shell markings at the larger end. The eggs 

 are, however, normally chocolate color, but sometimes of a paler 

 shade and spotted with brownish olive. From four to six eggs 

 are laid, measuring .62X-43. If the season is forward and the 

 marsh has attained a sufficient height, the birds sometimes have 

 full complements of eggs by the middle of May, but most of them 

 begin to lay in the last few days in June. Three broods are cer- 

 tainly raised, for I have taken eggs as late as August 9. 



