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.