marsh-wren

I never tire of watching how the lonely white heron spears his scaly prey, how the clapper-rail floats on his raft of matted rushes, how the marsh-wren jerks his saucy little tail over his bottle-shaped nest, or how with quick and certain stroke the oyster-catcher extracts the juicy

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 097, January, 1876 Various

Like a blight-eyed sprite the tiny marsh-wren flitted among the rushes, and the musk-rat built strange reed-castles at the water's edge.

The Long Ago

I had waded out into the meadow perhaps two hundred yards, leaving a dark bruised trail in the grass, when I came upon a nest of the long-billed marsh-wren.

Roof and Meadow Dallas Lore Sharp 1899

I thought, for a moment, that it was the nest of the long-billed's cousin, the short-billed marsh-wren, that I had found -- which would have been a gem indeed, with pearly eggs instead of chocolate ones.

Roof and Meadow Dallas Lore Sharp 1899