_Telmatodytes palustris palustris. Case 8, Fig. 79_
Darker and larger than the Short-billed Marsh
Wren, with a blackish brown crown and white stripe
over the eye. L. 5-1/4.
_Range._ Nests from Virginia to Canada; winters
from southern New Jersey to South Carolina.
Worthington's Marsh Wren (_T. p. griseus_) is the
form of the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to
Florida. Marian's Marsh Wren (_T. p. marianæ_) is
found on the more southern Atlantic coast and on
the Gulf coast of Florida; while the Prairie Marsh
Wren (_T. p. iliacus_) nests in the Mississippi
Valley east to Indiana north to Canada, and
winters along the Gulf coast. Where two races may
be expected to occur together (for example, in the
South, during the winter) field identification of
the various races may be left to experts and the
average observer must be content with plain "Marsh
Wren."
Washington, very numerous S.R., Apl. 15-Nov. 1.
Ossining, common S.R., May 10-Oct. 28. Cambridge,
locally abundant S.R., 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. SE. Minn., common S.R., May 5-Sept. 9.
As well look for pond lilies on a rocky hillside as a Marsh Wren outside
a marsh. Give him cat-tails for cover and to support his bulky nest and
he is at home. His scolding notes betray his ancestry and his reeling,
rippling song, delivered both from a perch and on fluttering wings above
the reeds, suggests in form, at least, that of the House Wren. The 5-9
eggs, laid in early June are uniform chocolate or thickly marked with
brown.