Canton, Mass.
1893
July 10
(No 3)
  outwardly by the interlaced stems of the living grasses
by which they were surrounded and supported that at the
distance of a few feet they appeared wholly green. They
differed from the typical nest of the Long-billed Wren in
being considerably smaller, shallower & hence much rounder & more symmetrical,
and in lacking all trace of the protrubrance or potico which
is usually built out over the entrance of the Long bill's nest
the entrance being merely a small round hole in the side.
Some of the eggs in both of the occupied nests could be 
seen by merely looking into the hole from above. (I have never
succeeded in seeing Long bill's eggs in this way). The fresh eggs
had a strongly marked roseate tinge & the shells appeared
rough. The incubated eggs were plain white with a
marked polish. The shells are much thinner than those of 
the Long-bills' eggs & Mr. Bolles finds that it is not safe
to roll the Short-bills' eggs out of the nest.
[margin]Cistothorus
stellaris[/margin]
The occupied and the false nests were similar and equally
well finished in every respect save that the former were
warmly and prettily lined with feathers, the latter with
fine dry grass only. In position I could not discover
that the two differed at all. Indeed the nest with 7 eggs
was quite as conspicuous as were any of the "cock" nests.
All the nests which I saw were built from 2 to 3 ft. above
the ground. [delete]Had they been made wholly of dry grasses[/delete] Their small size, globular shape, [delete]and[/delete] the
fine, dense character of the grass in which they were placed
and the envelope of green grass woven about them rendered
them much less conspicuous than is the average nest of
C.[Cistothorus] palustris but yet it was not at all difficult to
see them. Indeed the tangle of green grasses bent down
from every side & intertwined [delete]about[/delete] often caught my eye
from a distance of several yards. We found short, light