56 



THE COLLECTOKS* MONTHLY. 



species, as also the Hooded and Golden- 

 winged Warblers, generally come later 

 than the bulk of the family ; and the 

 Black-poll brought up the rear, late in 

 the month. 



Here was a very Paridise of thrushes — 

 Wood, Wilsons and Olive-backed, all com- 

 ing in thick with Warblers, and the Her- 

 mit in April, The two former bred in 

 great numbers, while the latter two were 

 simply migi-ants. 



Other birds were common here, par- 

 ticularly the Rosebreasted Grosbeak 

 throughout the breeding season, the frail 

 nest being easy to find ;— but enough. 

 J. H. Langille. 



Kensington, Md., or Smiths'n Inst., 

 Washington, D. C. 



The Long-Billed Marsh Wren. 



One of the first birds that greets the 

 collector as he enteres the marsh, is the 

 Wren. They present a comical appear- 

 ance with their tails turned at a sharp 

 angle over their backs, as they hop from 

 stem to stem after flying a short dis- 

 tance in a straight line, they stop as 

 quickly as they started, alighting on a 

 reed stock, uttering a shrill, scraping- 

 sound, which is the extent of their musi- 

 cal ability. 



My experience with them began about 

 two years before I had any book of ref- 

 erence from which 1 could learn of their 

 nesting habits, as what little I did learn 

 concerning them, was from personal ob- 

 servation. 



It was on one of my first trips to the 

 marsh after eggs, that I first came across 

 their uests. What was my joy, as well 

 as surprise, upon seeing the little ball of 

 rushes, neatly worked together, and 

 then I thought, "a nest with a roof over 

 it." It was a great find for me at this 



time, as I had never seen or heard of 

 anything like it. 



I did not obtain any eggs on this first 

 trip, nor the second, but I think it was a 

 little too early. When I went out the 

 next time I discovered a nest containing 

 a set of six eggs. 



How many collectors, when just get- 

 ting a start, have been made happy by 

 finding "a new species" for their collec- 

 tion. 



I had at last found out these little fel- 

 lows' secret. Around the nest which con- 

 tained the eggs, within a short distance, 

 were seven more nests, but without any 

 eggs, and I saw but the one pair of birds 

 near. After examining these closely, I 

 then went to another "settlement" in the 

 marsh and found the same to be true 

 there, thei - e being but one nest in each 

 clump that was occupied. It is evident, 

 therefore, that several nests are built by 

 one pair of birds. Now why is this? 

 There may be more than one reason why 

 they build so many houses. One of them 

 is, that as they do not begin to deposit 

 their eggs very early in the season, after 

 having nearly completed their first nest, 

 they begin others; in this way improving 

 all their spare moments, as they are nat- 

 urally a very active little body. Anoth- 

 er and more plausible reason is, that 

 they do this merely for protection. 



Every animal has its enemy, therefore 

 the Creator has given every kind an in- 

 stinct to protect itself against its ag- 

 gressors. Without this natural instinct 

 the small and weak would soon become 

 a thing of the past. 



The Marsh Wren may reason (?) along 

 this line: "Now if the Redwing Black- 

 bird sees me building my nest, he will 

 come to get my eggs. That's his trick. 

 I'll fool him. I will build more nests, be- 

 ing careful to make them as nearly alike 



