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136 MARSH WREN. 
nience, is scarcely inferior to one. and far superior to many, of its more 
musical brethren. This is formed outwardly of wet rushes mixed with 
mud, well intertwisted, and fashioned into the form of a cocoa nut. A 
small hole is left two thirds up, for entrance, the upper edge of which 
projects like a pent-house over the lower, to prevent the admission of 
rain. The inside is lined with fine, soft grass, and sometimes feathers ; 
and the outside, when hardened by the sun, resists every kind of weath- 
er. This nest is generally suspended among the reeds, above the 
reach of the highest tides, and is tied so fast in every part to the sur- 
rounding reeds, as to bid defiance to the winds and the waves. The 
eggs are usually six, of a dark fawn color, and very small. The young 
leave the nest about the 20th of June, and they generally have a sec- 
ond brood in the same season. 
The size, general color, and Habit of this bird of erecting its tail, 
give it, to a superficial observer, something of the appearance of the 
Common House Wren, represented in Fig. 31; and still more that of 
the Winter Wren, Fig. 34; but with the former of these it never asso- 
ciates; and the latter has left us some time before the Marsh Wren 
makes his appearance. About the middle of August, they begin to go 
off; and, on the 1st of September, very few of them are to be seen. 
How far north the migrations of this species extend, I am unable to 
say; none of them, to my knowledge, winter in Georgia, or any of the 
Southern States. 
The Marsh Wren is five inches long, and six in extent; the whole 
upper parts are dark brown, except the upper part of the head, back 
of the neck, and middle of the back, which are black, the two last 
streaked with white; the tail is short, rounded, and barred with black ; 
wings, slightly barred; a broad strip of white passes over the eye half 
way down the neck; the sides of the neck are also mottled with touch- 
es of a light elay color on a whitish ground; whole under parts, pure 
silvery white, except the vent, which is tinged with brown; the legs 
are light brown; the hind claw, large, semicircular, and very sharp; 
bill, slender, slightly bent; nostrils, prominent; tongue, narrow, very 
tapering, sharp pointed, and horny at the extremity; eye, hazel. The 
female almost exactly resembles the male in plumage. 
From the above description, and a view of Fig. 50, the naturalist 
will perceive that this species is truly a Certhia, or Creeper; and in- 
deed its habits confirm this, as it is cc-atinually climbing along the 
stalks of reeds, and other aquatic plants, n search of insects. 
