General Notes. 



Remarks on the Nest of Cistothorus palustris. — The nest of the Long- 

 billed Marsh Wren is too well known to ornithologists generally to need 

 description, but the only explanation of its globular form, which I can 

 find, is that given by Wilson, who states : "A small hole is left two-thirds 

 up, for entrance, the upper edge of which projects like a pent-house over 

 the lower, to prevent the admission of rain." The inference from this 

 and similar statements of later writers would be that the roof is built to 

 protect the eggs from the rain. This may be partially true, but it seems 

 strange that a species nesting at a season when violent rain-storms are 

 least frequent should need a protection, which birds breeding earlier in the 

 spring do not require. 



But there is another danger to which the eggs of C. palustris are pecu- 

 liarly liable, both from the character of the country in wliich they breed 

 and the slenderness of the reeds which support the nest. This is the 

 wind, which, sweeping across the exposed marshes of this Wren's 

 summer home, often levels the rushes with the ground. I have found the 

 reeds growing in the Qiiinnipiack Marshes near New Haven. Conn., 

 where large numbers of this species breed, leveled in this manner, and the 

 attached nests turned almost at right angles to their original position. It 

 is evident that under sucli conditions the eggs iu an uncovered nest would 

 fall out and be destroyed, wliile in many of these nests, which had the 

 long axis almost horizontal, I found the eggs reposing in perfect safety. 

 The upward trend of tlie entrance, forming the "pent-house" of Wilson, 

 naturally decreases the liability of the eggs to fall out, even if the wind 

 should force the side of entrance toward the earth. It therefore appears 

 to me at least probable that the main object of this Wren in constructing 

 its elaborate dwelling is protection from the wind rather than the rain. 



It has also been my experience that the top of the nest is generally more 

 firmly fastened to the reeds than the bottom, and in two instances I 

 noticed among the partially leveled reeds nests whose bases swung free 

 of all support, thus retaining their original perpendicular position. 

 However, this may have been the result of accident rather than design. 



The taking of three sets of white eggs, presumably of this species, may 

 be of interest. They consist of four, five, and four eggs, and were taken 

 on June 24, July ii, and July 28, 1893, near the edge of a small salt-water 

 ditch in the Qiiinnipiack Marshes, Hamden, Conn. The nests, which 

 are fairly typical of C. palustris, were not more than eight yards apart, 

 and probably belonged to the same bird. The eggs are white, translucent 

 when taken, irregular in shape, and several have small, roughened pro- 

 jections on the shell. One from the set of five has a few dark spots lialf 

 concealed beneath the surface of the shell and most perceptible in holding 

 the egg to the light. 



C. palustris is the only Wren known to inhabit this nrarsh, and a male, 

 which I believed to be the owner of the first set, together with a Wren 

 which settled for an instant at the entrance of the third nest, were of this 

 species. The character of the locality, and the large numbers of the Long, 

 billed Marsh Wrens everywhere around, made more certain identification 

 impossible. 



The white eggs of this species which have been recorded, taken in con- 

 nection with the normally white eggs of its near ally, C. stellaris, and 

 the frequently white eggs of the Bluebird (^Sialia sialis) have to my mind 

 a peculiar importance as an additional argument for the truth of the 

 theory of protective coloration, the covering of the nest rendering the 

 usual dark pigment unnecessary. — Louis B. Bishop, M. D., Neiu 

 Haven., Conn. 



[Albinistic eggs are well-known to occur more or less frequently in 

 birds that normally lay colored or spotted eggs, and which do not breed in 

 holes or in covered nests ; just as albinism may occur in the bird itself in 

 any species. Why, then, should abnormally pale eggs be considered as 

 havingany special significance in the two species above cited? — J. A. A.] 



Auk XI. Jan. 1894 p; 80-81 



