Canton, Mass.
1893  
July 10  
(No 4)                                                                            
poles of great assistance in parting the dense beds                                 
of grass as we walked through them.
[margin]Cistothorus stellaris[/margin]
  Mr. Bowles thinks the "false" nests are built partly
to save time in case the eggs are destroyed. In one instance
a bird which he robbed laid a second set in a "false" nest
which was only a rod or two away. The presence of one
or more false nests, however, gives little or no clue ordinarily
to the position of the occupied one which is often many
rods away. Indeed the false nests are usually scattered
about at random all over the meadow. We found none
to day anywhere near either of the nests that contained
eggs.
  I found, personally, the nest with seven eggs and three
new false nest. All the others had been found previously
by the Bowles Bros. & were shown me.
 The male Wren sometimes sings very near the nest, often
100 yds. or more away. The [female] always slips off before the 
intruder is near & is never surprised on the nest.  The
bird whose nest I took came close about us (within two
or three yards) as [we] were packing the eggs keeping well
concealed but making the grass stems tremble as she
flitted & hopped through & uttering a low, gutteral
churr.
  We saw two Bitterns in this meadow & I was shown two                          
of their nests. One from which two eggs were taken this season
was supported six inches or more above the mud on grass stems
bent down from every side & loosely interlaced there being a
clear space underneath. The other nest was built directly on the
ground on a dry mound. Both nests were in low dense grass
in the open meadow although there were thickets of bushes near by
& both were composed wholly of grass; one of cut grass the other of tussock grass.
[margin]Bitterns nests[/margin]