Cistothorus palustris dissaeptus . 



A NEW LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN FROM EAST- 

 ERN NORTH AMERICA. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



At present there are confused under the name Cistothorus 

 palustris (Wilson) two quite distinct birds ; one, true C. palustris, 

 breeding in the salt and brackish marshes of the Atlantic coast 

 from Connecticut southward ; the other inhabiting the inland 

 fresh-water marshes and extending north to Massachusetts, Onta- 

 rio and southern Manitoba. The former, a small bird, has the 

 chin, throat and belly pure white and the breast is usually white 

 also, though sometimes faintly clouded with pale brownish, with 

 the rump, upper tail-coverts and scapulars dusky brown. The 

 latter is a decidedly larger form, in which the chin, throat and 

 belly are bulfy or brownish white, the breast much more distinctly 

 clouded with brownish and the rump, upper tail-coverts and scap- 

 ulars reddish brown. 



My attention was first called to the differences between these 

 two Marsh Wrens by a series of winter specimens sent me by Mr. 

 Arthur T. Wayne of Mount Pleasant, S. C. Famihar with the 



ation in color, rare as it is, I should unhesitatingly pronounce the 

 two birds here treated distinct species, so sharply are their hab- 

 itats defined, and so great is the difference in size between them. 



From either of the western races, Cistothorus palustris paludi- 

 cola Baird or C. palustris plesius Oberholser, the eastern forms can 

 be told by many slight, though pretty constant characters as 

 pointed out by Mr. Oberholser.^ 



South of the range of true C. palustris and living under much 

 the same conditions, the salt marsh of the coast, a very differ- 

 ent bird — C. griseus Brewster — occurs. I can find no sign of 

 intergradation between these two and most emphatically regard 

 the latter as a distinct species. This bird breeds and is resident 

 from the coast of South Carolina to Matanzas Inlet, Florida. At 



lAuk, Vol. XIV, April, 1897, pp. 186-196. ' Critical Remarks on O'rfo- 

 thorus palustris (Wils.) and its Western Allies.' By Harry C. Oberholser. 



