Breeding of the marsh wrens
1875
July 13 [July 13, 1875] had either eggs or young in the vicinity.
She was so very sly that I found it
impossible to get a shot, flying short
distances but always keeping out of
range and uttering her note at frequent
intervals. She flew quite strongly, rather
than in that feeble flickering way usual
when started, and invariably lit in
the tops of the bushes. Picking up the
[male] that I had shot I found it in
superb plumage. Its stomach was
crammed with numbers of small
silvery minnows about 2 inches in length.
Keeping on up to the upper meadows
I found the marsh wrens still abundant
at Block island, and shot three. C. palustris [Cistothorus palustris]
2 [males] 1 [female]. Examined all the false nests
found on the 26th [June 26, 1975] and found them
all empty. In one place where on that date
I found four of these nests within a
few yards another had since been added and
was built within 2 ft. of one discovered
at that time. The males must spend
nearly all this time at this work as I
found several nests but just commenced.
What the object can be I cannot imagine.
I have sometimes thought that these extra
nests were intended for use in case of
emergency as when the true one is
destroyed but observations will not bear
this out. Near the nest that I robbed
on the 26th [June 26, 1875] was a false one but
the birds have not laid in it, although
within two yards of it, the [male] has since
constructed a new one which I am