The Oologist. 



Vol. XXIII. No. 8. 



Albion, N. Y., Aug., 1906. 



Whole No. 229 



THE OOLOGIST, 



A Monthly Publication Devoted to 



OOLOGY, ORNITHOLOGY AND TAXI- 

 DEEMY. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Publisher, 



ALBION, N. Y. 



ERNEST H. SHORT, Editor and Manager. 



Correspondence and items of interest to the 

 student of Birds, their Nests and Eggs, solicited 

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LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 

 (Telmatodytes palustris) in Philadel- 

 phia County, Penn. 



The Long-billed Marsh Wren (Tel- 

 matodytes palustris) is a common 

 summer resident in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, along the Delaware 

 river and the tide water creeks and 



streams that empty into it, and can 

 be found wherever there are suitable 

 clumps of rushes for them to nest in. 

 This diminutive denizen of our 

 marshes arrive in this vicinity 

 during the last week of April or in the 

 first week of May. Its time of arrival 

 is apparently governed by the condi- 

 tion of the weather, for during a late, 

 backward spring, it arrives later than 

 when the weather condition is more 

 favorable, i. e., an early spring. In 

 confirmation to this hypothesis, which 

 some may doubt and- others dispute, 

 as being the true reason of the birds' 

 arrival, suffice it is to say that a back- 

 ward or late spring retards the rushes* 

 growth in the marshes and never in 

 my experience have seen these 

 birds here before the cat-tail or other 

 rushes had attained a height of a foot 

 or more. An early spring quickens 

 the rushes growth and reverses the 

 conditions, for with greater warmth 

 of temperature, we have an earlier ap- 

 pearance of vegetation in the 

 marshes and consequently, the earlier 

 arrival of the birds, These conditions 

 also affect, naturally, the food supply 

 of the birds which consists of insects, 

 their eggs and larvae, etc. 



My earliest record of arrival is 

 April 24, 1897, at Frankford, this coun- 

 ty, and this bird was seen along 

 tidewater, where they are seldom 

 found, except as in this instance — 

 during migration. 



The Long-billed Marsh Wren is 

 blithe and happy upon his arrival — 

 and who ever saw him otherwise — 

 seemingly glad to get back home, and 

 sings gaily upon the first day of his 

 appearance, as however, do the ma- 



