TERRITORIES, MULTIPLE NEST BUILDING, AND POLYGYNY IN THE LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN

ceiving less assistance in the care of their offspring. This implies more suitable conditions for breeding in the territory of the chosen male. An examination of various features of the territories of male Long-billed Marsh Wrens (Telmatodytes palustris) in a population at Seattle, Washington, revealed two features, total territory size and area of territory with standing water, that correlated highly with the pairing success of the males. The amount of territory with standing water very likely affects the abundance of wren food in the territory. Similar attempts to clarify relationships between pairing success and territorial features of male Longbilled Marsh Wrens at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge were unsuccessful, possibly because the Turnbull sample was too small. In the course of investigating the response of male wrens to playback of recorded songs within their territories at Turnbull Refuge during the summer of 1967, we made detailed measurements of the territories, their component vegetation, distribution of nests, and the number of females and the conditions of their nests. These data provide the basis for a further analysis of the possible factors influencing the pairing success of male Long-billed Marsh Wrens at Turnbull Refuge. The refuge lies 15 miles south of Spokane, Washington, in the geologic formation of the channeled scablands. Most of the uplands are covered with open pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. More than 15,000 acres and 80 separate lakes of various sizes lie within the refuge boundaries. Most of the lakes are fringed with cattail (Typha latijolia) and bulrush (Scirpus validus) marshes that provide breeding habitat for a large population of Long-billed Marsh Wrens. A complete census of all lakes on the refuge in 1968 revealed 625 territorial males. Our studies in 1967 were conducted