480 
WRENS 
struck together, may be heard in a dozen directions for a quarter of 
an hour before one of the birds comes in view, so careful are they to 
keep concealed among the protecting sedge. The ordinary song of 
the species has much the same timbre as the call-note; it resembles the 
syllables chap chap — chap-chap , chap chap-chap-chap-p-p-rrrr ; but 
during the height of the love season it vents its feelings in a much more 
ambitious refrain, one which, while it is everywhere varied and in parts 
very musical, is still conspicuous for the amount of chappering that 
enters into its composition. While singing, it is usually seen clinging to 
the side of some tall swaying reed with its tail bent forward so far as 
almost to touch the head, thus exhibiting in an exaggerated manner a 
characteristic attitude of all the Wrens. 
This is less a species of the deep-water marshes than is the long- 
billed member of the genus, and often it will be found in places that are 
little more than damp meadows. It is remarkably mouselike in its 
habits and movements, and can be flushed only with extreme difficulty. 
Ernest Thompson Seton. 
725. Telmatodytes palustris palustris (Wits.). Long-billed 
Marsh Wren. Crown unstreaked , its sides black, its center olive-brown, 
a white line over eye; middle of back black broadly streaked with white; 
rest of back cinnamon-brown; middle tail-feathers narrowly, outer tail- 
feathers broadly barred; below white, the sides and flanks pale cinnamon- 
brown sometimes extending to breast; under 
tail-coverts rarely barred. Specimens in worn 
breeding plumage are grayer. 
Range. — E. U. S. Breeds in Transition 
and Upper Austral zones from s. Ont. and s. 
Que. s. to the Potomac Valley and coast of 
Va.; winters from s. N. J. to S. C. and 
casually to Fla.; casual in N. B. 
Washington, very numerous S. R., Apl. 
15-No v. 1. Ossining, common S. R., May 10- 
Fig 133 Lone-billed’ Marsh Oct. 28 - Cambridge, locally abundant S. R., 
Wren. (Natural size ) May 15-Oct. 1; sometimes a few winter. N. 
Ohio, common S. R., Apl. 21-Sept. 20. Glen 
Ellyn, fairly common S. R., May 16-Oct. 10. 
Nest, globular, the entrance at one side, of coarse grasses, reed stalks, 
etc., lined with fine grasses, attached to reeds or bushes. Eggs, 5-9, uni- 
form chocolate or minutely speckled or thickly marked with cinnamon- or 
olive-brown, ‘65 X *49. Date , D. C., June 4; Cambridge, June 12. 
If you would make the acquaintance of this Marsh Wren, you have 
only to visit his home in the cattails and tall, reedy grasses bordering 
rivers, creeks, and sloughs. It will be unnecessary to announce yourself; 
he will know of your presence long before you know of his, and from 
the inner chambers of his dwelling will proceed certain scolding, caching 
notes before this nervous, excitable bit of feathered life appears on his 
threshold. With many flourishes of the tail and much bobbing and 
attitudinizing, he inquires your business, but before you have had time 
enough to inspect him he has darted back into his damp retreats, and 
you can tell of his frequently changing position only by his scolding, 
grumbling notes. 
