350 USEFUL BIRDS. 
breast unstreaked ; and it sings all summer long about the 
bushy margins of grassy swamps and marshes and in the 
reeds or bush clumps of river meadows. Its song slightly 
resembles that of the Chipping Sparrow, but is more varied 
and pretentious. Its sharp chink and busy chirping as it 
fusses about its lowly nest greet 
the ears of the canoeist as he floats 
down the placid stream. 
Another bird whose song is 
commonly heard along the shores 
of marshy rivers is the Long- 
billed Marsh Wren ( Telmatodytes 
Fig. 153.—Swamp Sparrow, about PAlustris). It is found*com- 
eee re monly near streams along the 
coast, and up the river valleys of eastern Massachusetts, but 
is not so common in the central or western counties except 
along the Connecticut River. It sings among the reeds, cat- 
tails, and marsh grasses, a voluble, joyous, typical Wren 
song, which is kept up all day and may often be heard at 
night. It is an unmistakable Wren, with cocked tail and 
rapid, nervous motions. The Short-billed Marsh Wren 
( Cistothorus stellaris) is one of the smallest of birds. It is 
not as common as the other species, and frequents sedgy 
meadows and wet lands along brooks. Its song more nearly 
resembles that of a Sparrow than that of the typical Wren. 
Marsh Wrens build the little globular nests, each with an 
opening in the side, that are found among the cat-tails or the 
meadow grass. 
RAILS. 
Rails are confined to the shores of ponds and rivers or to 
marshes and wet meadows, where they skulk amid the rushes, 
cat-tails, grasses, and water plants, and are more often heard 
than seen. The old saying, “As thin as a rail,” might have 
originally been applied to these birds, for their bodies are so 
thin that they readily slip between the stems of the grasses. 
Although no longer as plentiful as in the past, they still 
breed here, and many pass through the State in migration. 
The two common species are the Virginia Rail (Rallus 
virgurianus) and the Carolina or Sora Rail (Porzana caro- 
