ARGENTINE MARSH-WREN 19 
ARGENTINE MARSH-WREN 
Cistothorus platensis 
Above pale brown, streaked with black ; head darker brown, streaked 
with black; tail-feathers dark sandy brown, barred with blackish 
brown ; beneath pale sandy buff; length 4.3 inches. 
THis small Wren is: rarely seen, being nowhere 
common, although widely distributed. It prefers 
open grounds covered with dense reeds and grasses, 
where it easily escapes observation. I have met with 
it near Buenos Ayres city ; also on the desert pampas, 
in the tall pampas-grass. It is likewise met with 
along the Parana river, and in Chili, Patagonia, and 
the Falkland Islands. In the last-named locality 
Darwin found it common, and says that it has there 
an extremely feeble flight, so that it may easily be run 
down and taken. 
The Marsh-Wren has a sweet and delicate song, 
resembling that of the House-Wren (Troglodytes 
furvus) but much less powerful. It does not migrate ; 
and on the pampas I have heard it singing with great 
animation when the pampas-grass, where it sat 
perched, was white with frozen dew. Probably its 
song, like that of Troglodytes furvus, varies in different 
districts; at all events, the pampas bird does not 
possess so fine a song as Azara ascribes to his Todo 
Voz in Paraguay, which is undoubtedly the same 
species, 
South America is rich in Wrens, the known species 
