X36 MARSH WREN. 



the top of a tall weed, from which, on the appearance of an intruder, it 

 instantly dives into the thickest part of the herbage, but to which it returns 

 the moment it thinks the danger over, and renews its merry little song. 



The males are extremely pugnacious, and chase each other with great 

 animosity, until one or other has been forced to give way. This disposition 

 is the more remarkable, as these birds build their nests quite close to each 

 other. I have seen several dozen of these nests in the course of a morning 

 ramble, in a piece of marsh not exceeding forty or fifty acres. 



The nest is nearly of the size and shape of a cocoa-nut, and is formed of 

 dried grasses, entwined in a circular manner, so as to include in its mass 

 several of the stems and leaves of the sedges or other plants, among which it 

 is placed. A small aperture, just large enough to admit the birds, is left, 

 generally on the south-west side of the nest. The interior is composed of 

 small dry grasses, and is nearly of the depth and width of a common bottle. 

 The eggs, which are from six to eight, are of a regular oval form, and deep 

 chocolate colour, and, from their small size, resemble so many beads. The 

 Marsh Wren raises too broods in the season, and on each occasion forms a 

 new nest. In consequence of this practice, the deserted nests of the year, 

 and those remaining since the preceding season, may be seen in the marshes 

 in every direction, there being scarcely a tuft of tall weeds that is not 

 adorned with one of them. 



The food of the Marsh Wren principally consists of minute aquatic 

 insects, and equally diminutive mollusca, which it procures by moving along 

 the blades of the grasses, or the twigs of other plants, which it does with 

 great activity. Indeed, so rapid are its movements among the weeds, that 

 one might easily mistake it for a mouse, did he not observe its tail now and 

 then raised over its back, so as to allow the white under-coverts of the 

 former to become conspicuous. 



Although I have shot and examined many birds of this species, I have not 

 found any remarkable differences in the plumage of the sexes. 



The young birds assume their full colouring so soon after they leave their 

 nest, that by the time the species departs from the Middle Districts on its 

 way southward, it is hardly possible to distinguish them from the old birds. 



A nest of this bird with eggs was seen in the salt marshes of Barnstable 

 by Dr. Storer of Boston. At the south-west pass of the Mississippi, I 

 found it very abundant, in full song, and breeding, on the 1st of April, 1837. 

 At the latter place this species sings during the whole of the night. 



Marsh Wren, Troglodytes pahistris. Wile. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 58. 



Troglodytes paixstris, Bonap. Syn., p. 93. 



Marsh Wren, Troglodytes pahistris, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 439. 



