Var. palustris.
_Certhia palustris_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 58, pl. xii, fig. 4
(Penna). _Troglodytes palustris_, BON. Obs. Wils. 1824, no.
66.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 500, pl. c.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841,
135, pl. cxxiii.—REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 5 (Godthaab, Greenland).
_Thryothorus palustris_, NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 439. _Cistothorus
(Telmatodytes) palustris_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 364; Rev.
147.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 22. _Thryothorus arundinaceus_,
VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XXXIV, 1819, 58 (not _Trog. arundinaceus_,
VIEILLOT). _Thryothorus arundinaceus_, BON. Consp. 1850, 220.
_Telmatodytes arundinaceus_, CAB. Mus. Hein. 1850, 78.
HAB. Eastern United States, from the Missouri River; Greenland?
REINHARDT; Mexico, and Guatemala? Cordova, SCLATER.
Var. paludicola.
_Cistothorus palustris_, var. _paludicola_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864,
148. _Troglodytes palustris_, NEWB. P. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 80
(Pacific region). _Cistothorus palustris_, COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R.
Rep. X, II, 1859, 190 (W. T.)—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1. 1870, 75.
_Certhia palustris_, LORD, Pr. R. Art. Inst. IV, 117.
SP. CHAR. Bill about as long as head. Tail and wing nearly equal.
Upper parts of a dull reddish-brown, except on the crown,
interscapular region, outer surface of tertials, and tail-feathers,
which are almost black; the first with a median patch like the
ground-color; the second with short streaks of white, extending round
on the sides of the neck; the third indented with brown; the fourth
barred with whitish, decreasing in amount from the outer feather,
which is marked from the base to the fifth, where it is confined to
the tips; the two middle feathers above like the back, and barred
throughout with dusky. Beneath rather pure white, the sides and under
tail-coverts of a lighter shade of brown than the back; a white streak
over the eye. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.08; tail, 2.00. (1,454.)
HAB. Pacific Coast and Middle Province of United States.
In comparing a series of Marsh Wrens of eastern North America with
western, we find that they differ very appreciably in certain
characteristics, which may be expressed by the following diagnoses:—
Bill lengthened, equal to tarsus. Tail-coverts above and below
either perfectly plain, or with very obsolete bands, reduced
to obscure spots beneath. Bands on tail broken; scarcely
appreciable on the middle feathers … var. _palustris_.
Bill shorter than tarsus. Tail-coverts distinctly banded all
across. Bands on tail quite distinct; appreciable on the
central feathers … var. _paludicola_.
The differences between these two races is much more appreciable than
those between _Troglodytes ædon_ and _T. “parkmanni”_; the most
striking character is the much longer bill of the var. _palustris_.
Specimens of the var. _paludicola_ from the interior are paler and
more grayish-brown above, and have less distinct bars on the
tail-coverts and tail, than in Pacific coast specimens, while on the
crown the brown, instead of the black, largely predominates.
HABITS. The common Marsh Wren appears to have a nearly unrestricted
range throughout North America. It occurs on the Atlantic coast from
Massachusetts to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and as
far north as Washington Territory on the west coast. A single specimen
was procured in Greenland. It is not, however, at all common in these
more northern latitudes. Mr. Drummond, of Sir John Richardson’s party,
met with it in the 55th parallel on the eastern declivity of the Rocky
Mountains and in the Saskatchewan Valley. Dr. Cooper found it early in
March in the salt marshes along the coast of Washington Territory, and
thinks it winters in that section. On the Eastern coast it is not
common as far north as Massachusetts, a few being found at Cambridge
and in Barnstable County. It is abundant near Washington, D. C., and
throughout the country in all suitable locations south and west from
Pennsylvania. Mr. Ridgway found it plentiful in Utah.
They frequent low marshy grounds, whether near the sea or in the
interior, and build in low bushes, a few feet from the ground, a
well-constructed globular nest. On the Potomac, where the river is
subject to irregular tides, they are generally not less than five feet
from the ground.
These nests are nearly spherical, and both in size and shape resemble
a cocoanut. They are made externally of coarse sedges firmly
interwoven, the interstices being cemented with clay or mud, and are
impervious to the weather. A small round orifice is left on one side
for entrance, the upper side of which is also protected from the rain
by a projecting edge. The inside is lined with fine grasses, feathers,
the down of the silk-weed, and other soft and warm vegetable
substances. These birds arrive in the Middle States early in May and
leave early in September. They have two broods in the season, and each
time construct and occupy a new nest.
Audubon describes its nest as built among sedges, and as usually
partly constructed of the sedges among which the nest is built. This
is the usual manner in which the _C. stellaris_ builds its nest, but I
have never known one of the present species building in this manner,
and in the localities in which they breed, near the coast, being
subject to irregular heights of tides, it could not be done with
safety.
The note of the Marsh Wren is a low, harsh, grating cry, neither loud
nor musical, and more resembling the noise of an insect than the vocal
utterances of a bird.
Their food consists chiefly of small aquatic insects, minute mollusks,
and the like, and these they are very expert in securing.
The eggs of this species average .65 of an inch in length and .50 in
breadth. They are, in color, in striking contrast with those of the
_C. stellaris_, being so thickly marked with blotches and spots of a
deep chocolate-brown as to be almost of one uniform color in
appearance. They are of an oval shape, at times almost spheroidal, one
end being but slightly more pointed than the other. They number from
six to nine.
In a few instances eggs of this species from the Mississippi Valley
and from California are of a light ashy-gray color, the markings being
smaller and of a much lighter color.
* * * * *
We have thus completed the account of the Oscine Singing-Birds with
slender bills not hooked at the end, and which have ten distinct
primaries; the first or outer one, however, either quite small or else
considerably shorter than the second. We now come to a series with
only nine primaries, the first being entirely wanting, and the second,
now the outermost, nearly or quite as long as the third. In the
preliminary tables of general arrangement will be found the
comparative characters of the different families of _Oscines_, but the
diagnosis of the series referred to is presented here, as follows:—
COMMON CHARACTERS. Primaries nine; the first quill nearly as long as
the second or third. Tarsi distinctly scutellate the whole length
anteriorly. Bill conical, but slender or depressed, usually, except in
_Cærebidæ_, half the length of the head; more or less bristled, or
notched. Nostrils oval or rounded. Lateral toes nearly or quite equal,
and shorter than the middle; the basal joint of the middle free nearly
to its base externally, united for about half internally.
Motacillidæ. Bill slender. Culmen slightly concave at base. Legs long;
claws but little curved. Hind toe considerably longer than the middle
one; its claw much longer (twice) than the middle claw; all the claws
but slightly curved. Innermost secondaries (so-called tertials)
elongated, much longer than the outer secondaries; and the fifth
primary emarginated at end. Nest on ground.
Sylvicolidæ. Bill rather slender, conical, or depressed. Culmen
straight or convex. Hind toe shorter than the middle; the claws all
much curved. Hind claw not conspicuously longer than the middle one.
When the hind toe is lengthened, it is usually in the digit, not the
claw. Tertials generally not longer than the secondaries, and not
emarginated. Gape wide; tongue slightly split at end. Nest variously
placed.
Cærebidæ. Similar to _Sylvicolidæ_. Bill generally longer; equal to
head or more. Gape of mouth narrow; tongue generally much fringed at
the end. Nest on trees.
The _Tanagridæ_, the _Fringillidæ_, and even the _Icteridæ_, come very
near these families, as will be explained farther on, all agreeing in
having the nine primaries, and in many other characters.