The Marsh Wrens 
“mahogany” or “chocolate”),—very dark, except occasionally in the 
case of the last-laid egg. These eggs are not only among the handsomest 
known, but they form another exception to the “rule” that eggs laid in 
holes are white. We may scarcely suppose that the hole-nesting habit 
is one recently acquired, and yet I once found at Los Banos a Tule 
Wren’s nest whose contents, four eggs, were entirely exposed, as in a 
blackbird’s nest. The sitting bird must subject her eggs to frequent 
turning in the nest, for they become highly polished during incubation. 
No. 132b Western Marsh Wren 
A. O. U. No. 725c. Telmatodytes palustris plesius (Oberholser). 
Synonym.— Interior Marsh Wren. 
Description.— Adult: Crown blackish; forehead warm brown (brussels brown), 
centrally,—color sometimes spreading superficially over entire crown; hind-neck and 
scapulars a lighter shade of brown; rump bright brown (sudan brown); a triangular patch 
on back blackish, with prominent white stripes and some admixture of brown; wings and 
tail fuscous or blackish on inner webs, brown with black bars on exposed surfaces; 
upper and under tail-coverts usually more or less distinctly barred with dusky; sides 
of head whitish before, plain brown or punctate behind; a white superciliary line; 
underparts white, tinged with ochraceous buff across breast, and with pale cinnamon- 
brown on sides, flanks, and crissum. Bill blackish brown above, paler brown below; 
feet and legs brownish. Length 114.3-146 (4.50-5.75); av. of 10 males: wing 54 
(2.12); tail 46.4 (1.82); bill 14.2 (.56); tarsus 20.1 (.79). 
Recognition Marks. —Warbler size; brown and black pattern of back with white 
stripes distinctive; white superciliary stripe and long bill distinctive in haunts. Strictly 
confined to bulrushes and long grass of marshes. Lighter and larger than T. p. paludi- 
cola. 
Nesting.— Nest: A ball of reeds and grasses, chinked and lined with cattail-down, 
with entrance in side, and suspended in growing cattails, bulrushes, or bushes. Eggs: 
5 to 7; so heavily speckled with snuff-brown or bister as to appear almost uniform 
brown. Av. size 16 x 12.2 (.63 x .48). Season: May—July; two broods. 
Range of T. p. plesius. —The Great Basin region, broadly; breeding in Upper 
Sonoran zone from central British Columbia south to northeastern California and 
Mexico; wintering from California and central Texas south to the Tropic of Cancer. 
Authorities.—Cooper ( Cistothorus palustris), Orn. Calif., 1870, p. 75, part 
(Lake Tahoe); Grinnell, Condor, vol. v., 1903, p. 133 (occurrence in s. Calif.); Swarth, 
Auk, vol. xxxiv., 1917, p. 308, map (syst.; desc.; range in Calif., etc.). 
No. 132c Suisun Marsh Wren 
A. O. U. No. 725a, part. Telmatodytes palustris aestuarinus Swarth. 
Synonyms.— San Joaquin Marsh Wren. Swarth’s Marsh Wren. 
Description. —Like T. p. paludicola, but larger and somewhat darker; like 
T. p. plesius in size, but much darker. 
Range of T. p. cestuarinus (Wholly confined to California).— Breeds in the 
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