Cistothorus stellaris at Palmiston 135 Middlesex Co., Mass. June 1 with regard to the safety of the nest, but I am now sure that this indifference is entirely assumed and the bird only pretends to flee. Every bird of these nests has done precisely the same thing. There is no angry or anxious chirping, no excited flutterings or hopping about; the keen arching glance of that bright little hazel eye alone betrays the mothers intense appre- hension. The moment I began to pack up the egg and nest in my basket, the inefficacy of her little ruse seemed to become apparent to her and fluttering hurriedly up she would hop into the nest the instant I took my hand out of it though I was sitting within two feet of it. Even now there was no noise, no fuss; only one beseeching little cry for mercy, and then, almost the resolution to go with the nest. Keeping on I crossed the H.R.R. track finding nests of the red winged Blackbirds at frequent intervals, but disturbing none of them. I examined 9 during the day, 2 were hung among the brush & 7 laid down in tussacks; 5 had 4 eggs each, 1 contained only 3. Started two pairs, one of each species: both rose with ease and flew nearly as fast as a snipe with legs drawn up, one of them going clear across the broad meadow at one fly. Next came across a little colony of Marsh wrens & shot six thin of each species (lost 1 stellaris), though within a few rods of one another the long bills now so usual in the osier sedge?