LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 279 



Buffon. The time of arrival and departure in this species, 

 agreeing exactly with the appearance of the Marsh Wren of 

 Wilson, appears to prove that it also exists in Pennsylvania 

 with the following, whose migration, according to Audubon, is 

 more than a month earlier and later than that of our bird. Mr. 

 Cooper, however, has not been able to meet with it in the 

 vicinity of New York, but Dr. Trudeau found its nest in the 

 marshes of the Delaware. 



This Wren occurs throughout the Eastern Province north to 

 Massachusetts on the Atlantic, and in the west to Manitoba, breed- 

 ing generally north of 40°, and wintering in the Gulf States. It is 

 found in eastern Canada only on the marshes near Lake St. Clair. 



LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 



CiSTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS. 



Char. Above, dull reddish brown, darker on crown ; back black, 

 streaked with white ; white line over eyes ; wings and tail with dark bars ; 

 below, buffy white, shaded on sides with brown. Length 5 to 5^ inches. 



Nest. In a salt marsh or reedy swamp of interior, fastened to reeds or 

 cat-tails or a small bush ; composed of grass and reeds, sometitnes 

 plastered with mud, lined with fine grass or feathers. It is bulky and . 

 spherical in form, the entrance at the side. 



Eggs. 6-10 ; generally so thickly covered with dark-brown spots as to 

 appear uniform chocolate with darker spots; 0.65 X 0.50. 



This retiring inhabitant of marshes and the wet and sedgy 

 borders of rivers arrives in the Middle States of the Union 

 early in April, and retires to the South about the middle of 

 October. It is scarcely found to the north of the State of 

 New York, its place in New England being usually occupied 

 by the preceding species, though a few individuals are known 

 to breed in the marshes near Cambridge and Boston. 



It is a remarkably active and quaint little bird, skipping 

 and diving about with great activity after its insect food and 

 their larvae among the rank grass and rushes, near ponds and 

 the low banks of rivers, where alone it affects to dwell, laying 

 no claims to the immunities of the habitable circle of man, 

 but content with its favorite marshes ; neglected and seldom 



