338 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



General habits. — This wren is found in winter in grassy 

 flats, either wet or dry. It is shy and much averse to flushing, 

 and when startled flies only a short distance before dropping 

 down again into thick grass. It differs from the long-billed 

 marsh wren in being decidedly partial to fresh-water marshes, 

 and when living about the salt marshes, as it does during the 

 winter season, it is most likely to be found about the borders 

 of the marsh or in dry grass in the more elevated portions. 



Food habits. — The food of this wren, as indicated by the 

 contents of 5 stomachs collected in Alabama, consists mainly 

 of weevils, ants, bugs, grasshoppers, and spiders. 



MARIAN MARSH WREN: Telmatodytes palustris 

 marianae (Scott). 



State records. — The Marian marsh wren is the breeding 

 form of its species on the Gulf coast and is found in small 

 numbers throughout the winter. The bird is abundant in the 

 big marshes in Mobile River and the lower Tensaw River, 

 where numerous specimens were secured. May 13 and 30, 

 1911, and March 16 and 19, 1912. On May 30 I examined a 

 number of nests but found none containing eggs. Outsell saw 

 a few of the birds and one nest near Orange Beach in Septem- 

 ber, 1911, and I took one specimen there, January 27, 1912. 

 Two were taken also, at Bon Secour, October 19 and 21, 1908, 

 and one on Little Dauphin Island, June 5, 1914. Apparently 

 this species does not breed in the extensive marshes about 

 Bayou Labatre or Grande Batture Island, as I could find none 

 of the birds there either in summer or winter. 



General habits. — This tiny wren is inconspicuous and easily 

 overlooked by reason of its secretive habits. It dwells ex- 

 clusively in the wet salt marshes, hiding most of the time in 

 the dense tangle of rushes and marsh grass. In the nesting 

 season its presence is made known by its curious, bubbling 

 song, and the singer occasionally launches a short distance into 

 the air, but usually the birds are very difficult to detect as 

 they flit about under cover of the rank vegetation. All their 

 actions are quick and nervous, and the flight is weak and 

 never protracted. The nest is a globular structure about the 

 size of a coconut, with a small entrance hole on one side ; it is 



