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PASSERIFORMES 
724. Short-billed Marsh Wren, le railleur ou troglodyte des pres. Cisto- 
thorus steUaris. L, 4. A very small wren; light below and decidedly streaked in wood- 
browns above and on crown. 
Distinctions. A small wren, sharply streak- 
ed above to crown (Figure 413). 
Field Marks. A small wren with streaked 
back and crown, inhabiting dry marsh and 
grass. 
Nesting. In dry marshes, amidst the grass. 
Nest a globular structure of green grasses, placed 
low down near the ground. Many false nests 
are built in the grass tops in the vicinity of the 
one occupied. 
Figure 413 
Short-billed Marsh Wren; natural size. 
Distribution. Eastern North America. In 
Canada, the southern parts of the Dominion 
west to central Saskatchewan. 
The Short-billed Marsh W ren is local and irregular in its distribution; 
it may be present one year in a locality and absent the next, and little is 
really known of its distribution in Canada. It frequents damp, grassy 
marshes rather than wet swamps and is usually found in little colonies. 
It is shy and difficult to find in its regular haunts, and its voice is entirely 
different from that of the Long-billed Marsh Wren with which it may 
occasionally lie confused. 
717. Canon Wren, le railleur ou troglodyte des canons. Calherpes mexieanus. 
L, 6. A rather large wren with very long, slender bill (Figure 414). Above, bright reddish 
brown changing to cinnamon on tail and 
greying on crown, finely speckled with 
minute black and white spots except on tail 
which is sharply barred with dark brown. 
Brown, extending below over abdomen, 
speckled or finely vermiculated with black; 
throat and breast white. 
Distinctions. The long, slender bill, 
warm, speckled, ruddy brown back, and white 
throat are diagnostic characters. 
Field Marks. By habitat likely to be 
confused only with the Rock Wren, but of 
warm ruddy brown colour with conspicuous 
white throat instead of general dull dry- 
earthy hue. Its song, consisting chiefly of a regularly descending scale of clear, individual, 
whistled notes, is very distinctive. 
Nesting. Like the Rock Wren in crevices of rocks and cliffs. 
Distribution. Arid parts of United States and Mexico. In Canada known only in 
the southern Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. 
SUBSPECIES. The form to be expected in Canada is the Northern Canon Wren 
(le Railleur ou Troglodyte des canons du Nord) Calherpes mexieanus conspersus. 
The Canon Wren is an unsurpassed rock-creeper. So high up the 
rocky canyon walls as hardly to be recognizable as a bird it creeps and runs 
across the rocky surfaces, indifferent as to whether they are horizontal, 
perpendicular, or overhanging. Occasionally it disappears into some 
cranny and remains in secret seclusion. At intervals it emerges and perch- 
ing on the tip of some outstanding spur, only its white throat showing over 
the edge, it drops its clear staccato notes in rapid but unhurried succession. 
They bound and rebound from the rocky masses, echoing and re-echoing, 
and momentarily fill the valley with their liquid tones. 
Figure 414 
Bill of Canon Wren; natural size. 
