Messrs. Nuttall and Townsend observed these birds in the marshy meadows of the Wahlamet, accompanied by their young, as early as May. They seemed to have all the habits of Marsh Wrens. Drs. Gambel and Heermann, who observed them in California, describe them as keeping in low bushes and piles of brush, as well as about old dead trees and logs, over and around which they were flitting with the greatest activity, uttering, when approached, the usual grating scold of the Wrens. In Washington Territory Dr. Cooper states that this and the Winter Wren are among the few birds that enliven the long rainy season with their songs, which were as constantly heard in the dullest weather as in the sunny spring. The young broods make their first appearance there in June. Dr. Suckley found this species very abundant at Puget Sound, where it is a constant resident throughout the year. On sunny days in January and in February it was found among low thickets in company with the smaller species. At this season they were very tame, allowing a person to approach them without apparent fear. He speaks of the voice of the male as being harsh and loud during the breeding-season, and not unlike that of the common House Wren. GENUS TROGLODYTES, VIEILL. _Troglodytes_, VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 52. (Type, _Troglodytes ædon_.) The characters of this genus are sufficiently indicated in the synopsis on page 131. They come very close to those of _Thryothorus_, the nostrils, especially, being linear and overhung by a scale. In this respect both differ from _Thryophilus_ of Middle America. The bill is shorter or not longer than the head; straight, slender, and without notch. The tail is graduated, and shorter than the much rounded wings, the feathers narrow. The light superciliary line of _Thryothorus_ is almost entirely wanting. Species and Varieties. _a. Troglodytes._ Tail and wings about equal. T. ædon. Beneath grayish-white. Crissum and flanks distinctly barred. Wing-coverts spotted with whitish. Dark bars of tail about half the width of their interspaces. First primary nearly half the longest. Color above dark-brown, rufous towards tail. _Hab._ Eastern Province United States … var. _ædon_. Wing similar. Above paler brown. _Hab._ Eastern Mexico, from Rio Grande southward … var. _aztecus_. First primary half the second. Above paler brown. _Hab._ Middle and Western Province United States … var. _parkmanni_. _b. Anorthura._ Tail very short; only about two thirds the wing. T. hyemalis. _a._ Size of _ædon_ except for shorter tail, wing about 2.00; culmen very straight. _Hab._ Aleutian Islands … var. _alascensis_. _b._ Much smaller than _ædon_, wing about 1.75.