■ Breeding in District of 

 Columbia. a.W.BichmDnd. 



93. Cistothorus palustris. Long-billed Marsit Wren. 

 merous. Breeds abundantly in all the marshes around Washi 

 Coues, in his 'Birds of the Northwest,' speaks as follows on tlie 

 of the Marsh Wren: "The eggs, as usual, are numerous — six 

 sometimes so many as to induce the suspicion that thcj- were 



K„ fl,„ o„„,„ t,:..J " nn,-: , .. • ^^j^.^^ 



Nesting of the Long-billed Marsh sake of find 



Wren. pung in one 



Alono; the Delaware river, ten or twelve miles 18. p. 24 

 below Philadelphia, there extends a series of 

 marshes drained by numerous ditches. These | 

 marshes are covered with the long ribbon- 

 like cat-tail and calamus reeds, partially suli- 

 merged at high tide. This is the breeding 

 place of the Long-billed Marsh Wren (Tpimatfi- 

 dytpx ixiliixiris) which we may consider as the 

 commonest marsh-breeding bird in this 

 vicinity. 



The Marsh Wren's nest is an almost globular 

 structure, formed by the weaving together of 

 numbers of dead cat-tail leaves. The long di- 

 ameter of the nest is about seven, and the 

 short about five inches, in fact it is somewhat 

 the shape of a cocoanut with the outside 

 filirous shell intact. The entrance is a circular 

 liole from one to one and a half inches in di- 

 ameter, and situated at the side, generally two 

 or three inches from the top, the entire strnc- ■ 

 ture being firmly bound to the growing reeds, 

 out of reach of the high tides. 



The eggs, four to nine in number, are of a 

 dark chocolate color, with very minute and 

 nunierous markings of a deeper brown, distrib- 

 uted over the entire surface. Some, however, 

 are almost uniform in color, and I have seen 

 several sets in which one or two eggs, except 

 at one end, were nearly white. 



In regard to their duplicate nests, as a gen- ' 

 eral rule, 1 found from three to five empty 

 nests for every one occupied. Why these du- 

 plicate nests are made we do not know, some 

 say they are built to deceive their human ene- 

 my (if man may so be called), others that the : 

 male Wren builds them to sleep in, and again 1 

 that he amuses himself by building them while 

 the female is sitting on the real nest, but what- 

 ever it is for is a problem yet to be solved. Ln- 

 til I found out how to distinguish them, as I 

 think I have, the extra nests caused me a great 

 deal of annoyance. I noticed that almost in- 

 variably the entrance to the occupied nests was 

 lined with cat-tail or thistle down, while tht 

 unoccupied ones had none. 



The song of this Wi'en has been described by 

 Wilson as a crackling sound, but to me it 

 seems more like a liquid gurgle, begimiing 



slowly and growing faster. This lasts for 



about five seconds, when there is a stop of a 



few moments and the music begins again. 

 On the near approach of anybody the bird 



often flies straight up in the air for about ten 



feet, and then descends in the same manner. 



This is presumably to locate the position of the 



intruder. The Marsh Wren, like the rest of 



the family, can bend its tail back until it al- 

 most touches its neck. In this position he 



creeps or rather seems to slide around the reeds 



in search of food. q ^q. ^^IX^MarhsBQ p. 39 



Philartelphia, Pa. _ ^ 



— Very nu- 

 ngton. Dr. 

 nidification 

 t or eight — 

 not all laid 

 ind here, as 

 inga large 

 nest. 



A Curious Set of Eggs of the Long- 

 billed Marsh Wren. 



While collecting eggs of the Long-billed 

 Marsh Wren (Telmatodytes palustris) a few 

 seasons ago, I came across a set which I think 

 is unique. 



It consists of four eggs of the usual size and 

 shape of typical Long-billed eggs, the texture 

 of the shell also being the same. The reason * 

 I mention this fact is that eggs of the Short- 

 billed species are much more brittle than those 

 of the Long-billed. 



The eggs are all pure white; if you hold 

 them up to the light you can discern a few 

 lilac spots on the large ends, which have the 

 appearance of being under the surface of the 

 shell; otherwise they are immaculate. 



This set was found in the centre of a colony 

 of Long-bills on a salt meadow. The nest was 

 placed in a small bush three feet up, and was 

 composed of the same materials as typical 

 nests of the Long-billed; the female was seen 

 and fully identified. C. W. Crandall. 



O & 0 XIV. June. 1889 p.eii 



Albino Eggs of Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren. 



I thought it wotild be of interest to 

 readers of Ornithoi.ogist and Oolo- 

 GIST that on June 10, 1S91, I took three 

 sets of albino Long-billed Marsh Wren 

 eggs. The eggs were wliite, without any 

 spots whatever, and were properly identi- 

 fied, as several were found with the darker 

 kind. One set of four were all pure 

 white without any markings. I also found 

 several nearly albino ones. 



ly. II. Swales. 

 Detroit, Mich. 0.& O Vol.17, Ang,1892 p, 121 



Eeas IN A Set. — Harry F. Haines, Eliza- 

 beth, N. J., who has taken a good many 

 Long-billed Marsh Wren's nests, writes 

 that six is the largest number found in a 

 nest, but five is found oftener^t^n^j^.y,r^ 

 srs. Let us hear from others. 



%<.*fZut,jtyurtte, '^fy^ /^vT^i^. June 17th 

 found set of six Long - billed Marsh Wrens 

 that were white, spotted with brown on the 

 large end. Li>^. ^^,4f^,,u<^,4t^. ^ 



' 0<Io. Vni. Oct. 1833.15. 7f 



Odd Shaped liacs.— Ceto.-i Hatcli, Oak Centre, Wis., 

 writes us that he has this season taken a set of L. B. M. 

 'Wrm measuring about .TSs.SO 



He finds sets of eggs have generally 

 i smaller this year. Q. & O. IX. July. 1884. p. f^. 



