The Marsh Wrens 
the bird herself is obliged to sit lengthwise of the crescent. In a nest 
which the author took on Sugar Hill, in Modoc County, the entrance 
crevice was only five-eighths of an inch across! 
So great is the scarcity of suitable nesting sites in country other¬ 
wise desirable for the birds, that an ingenious friend of mine has hit 
upon the scheme of putting out an extensive line of decoys. In the 
depths of the woods he nails up curling bark strips, as inconspicuously as 
possible, against sound tree boles. And from a line of, say, thirty- 
five or forty traps he gathers an annual vintage of five or six sets of 
Creepers’ eggs. It is only fair to add that the birds profit in the long 
run by this arrangement for they are allowed to raise second broods un¬ 
disturbed throughout an area which offers no other shelter. 
No. 132 
Marsh Wren 
No. 132a Tule Wren 
A. 0 . U. No. 725a. Telmatodytes palustris paludicola (Baird). 
Synonyms.— Marsh Wren (locally). Western Marsh Wren (now restricted 
to T. p. plesius). California Marsh Wren (inappropriate). Pacific Marsh Wren. 
Description.— Adult: Similar to T. p. plesius, but smaller and with coloration 
decidedly darker. Length about 120.6 (4.75); wing 50 (1.97); tail 44 (1.73); bill 13.2 
(.52): tarsus 20 (.78). 
Recognition Marks. —Pygmy size; brownish coloration; reed-haunting habits 
and sputtering notes distinctive. 
Nesting.— Nest: Shaped like a cocoanut, of reeds and grasses, lined with plant- 
down, and with entrance in side; placed two or three feet high in reeds; rarely, high in 
bushes of swamp. Eggs: 5 or 6, ground-color grayish brown, but so heavily dotted and 
clouded with varying shades of brown as to be frequently obscured. Av. size 16 x 12.2 
(.63 x .48). Season: Last week in March to July; two broods. 
Range of Telmatodytes palustris. —United States and southern Canada, wintering 
south into Mexico. 
Range of T. p. paludicola. —Pacific Coast strip, breeding from British Columbia 
to the San Diegan district, wintering from Puget Sound south to Cape San Lucas and 
northwestern Sonora. 
Distribution in California. —“Resident locally in marshy tracts. In northern 
California, the region west of the Coast ranges; south of San Francisco Bay, along the 
coast, in the Santa Cruz and San Diegan regions, probably to the Mexican boundary 
line” (Swarth). 
Authorities. — Gambel ( Troglodytes palustris ), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 
vol. iii., 1846, p. 113 (Calif.); Cones, Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 34, part (syn.; life 
hist.); Beal, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 30, 1907, p. 62 (food); Ray, Condor, 
vol. xviii., 1916, p. 226 (San Francisco; nesting dates); Swarth, Auk, vol. xxxiv., 1917, 
p. 308, map (syst.; desc.; range in Calif., etc.). 
