136 
MARSH WREN. 
the top of a tall weed, from which, on the appearance of an intruder, it 
instantly dives into the thickest part of the herbage, but to which it returns 
the moment it thinks the danger over, and renews its merry little song. 
The males are extremely pugnacious, and chase each other with great 
animosity, until one or other has been forced to give way. This disposition 
is the more remarkable, as these birds build their nests quite close to each 
other. I have seen several dozen of these nests in the course of a morning 
ramble, in a piece of marsh not exceeding forty or fifty acres. 
The nest is nearly of the size and shape of a cocoa-nut, and is formed of 
dried grasses, entwined in a circular manner, so as to include in its mass 
several of the stems and leaves of the sedges or other plants, among which it 
is placed. A small aperture, just large enough to admit the birds, is left, 
generally on the south-west side of the nest. The interior is composed of 
small dry grasses, and is nearly of the depth and width of a common bottle. 
The eggs, which are from six to eight, are of a regular oval form, and deep 
chocolate colour, and, from their small size, resemble so many bqads. The 
Marsh W ren raises two broods in the season, and on each occasion forms a 
new nest. In consequence of this practice, the deserted nests of the year, 
and those remaining since the preceding season, may be seen in the marshes 
in every direction, there being scarcely a tuft of tall weeds that is not 
adorned with one of them. 
The food of the Marsh Wren principally consists of minute aquatic 
insects, and equally diminutive mollusca, which it procures by moving along 
the blades of the grasses, or the twigs of other plants, which it does with 
great activity. Indeed, so rapid are its movements among the weeds, that 
one might easily mistake it for a mouse, did he not observe its tail now and 
then raised over its back, so as to allow the white under-coverts of the 
former to become conspicuous. 
Although I have shot and examined many birds of this species, I have not 
found any remarkable differences in the plumage of the sexes. 
The young birds assume their full colouring so soon after they leave their 
nest, that by the time the species departs from the Middle Districts on its 
way southward, it is hardly possible to distinguish them from the old birds., 
A nest of this bird with eggs was seen in the salt marshes of Barnstable 
by Dr. Storer of Boston. At the south-west pass of the Mississippi, I 
found it very abundant, in full song, and breeding, on the 1st of April, 
1837. At the latter place this species sings during the whole of the night. 
Marsh Wren, Troglodytes palustris, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 58. 
Troglodytes palustri^ Bonap. Syn., p. 93. 
Marsh Wren, Troglodytes palustris, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 439. 
