TKOCI.dDVTID.K — TIIK WREXS. l.",! 



ill Imililinn- their nest. Tiiuuiih leiiioved each lime the vehicle was used, tlie 

 pair for a long while persisted in their attempts to make use of this place, at 

 last even depositing their eggs on the liare bottom of the box. It was t\\-(j 

 or three weeks before they finally desisted from their vain attempts. 



Sometimes this lard will luiild a iie,-it in a large cavity, holding ]ierhaps a 

 bushel. Before the cup of the nest is completed, the birds will generally 

 endeavor to fill the entire space with sticks and various other convenient 

 sulistances. Where tlie cntraiuH! is unnecessarily large they will generally 

 ctmtract it by V)uilding about it a l>arricade of sti(d<s, leaving only a small 

 entrance. In the midst of these masses of material they construct a com- 

 pact, cup-shaped, inner nest, hemispherical in shape, composed of finer ma- 

 terials and warmly lined with the fur of small cpiadrupeds, and with soft 

 feathers. If the eggs are taken as the female is depositing them, she will 

 contiuue to lay quite a long wjiile. In one instance eighteen were taken, 

 after which the birds were let alone and raised a brood of seven. 



During the months of iMay and June the male is a constant and remark- 

 able singer. His song is loud, clear, and shrill, given v/ith great animation 

 and rapidity, the performer evincing great'jealousy of any interruption, often 

 leaving off abruptly in the midst of his song to literally " pitch in " upon 

 any rival who may presume to comjiete with him. 



If a cat or any unwelcome visitor approach the nest, angry vociferations 

 succeed to his sprightly song, and he will swoop in r.ipid flights across the 

 head or back of the intruder, e\eu at the apparent risk of his life. 



Where several pairs occu]iy the same garden, their contests are frequent, 

 noisy, and generally quite amusing. In their fights with other birds for the 

 possession of a coveted hollow, their skill at barricading frequently enables 

 the AVrens to keep triumphant possession against birds much more powerful 

 than themselves. 



Their food is exclusi\-ely insectivorous, and of a class of destriuti\-e in- 

 sects that render them great benefactors to the farmer. Mr. Kennicott 

 ascertained that a single pair of Wrens carried to their young about a tliou- 

 sand insects in a single day. 



The young, when they leave their nest, keep together for some time, mov- 

 ing about, an interesting, sociable, and active gnmii, under the charge of tiieir 

 mother, but industrious in .supjdying their own wants. 



The eggs of the W'ren, usually from seven to nine in numVier, are of a 

 rounded-oval shape, at times nearly as broad as long. Tlieir ground-color is 

 white, but they are so thickly studded with markings and fine spots of red- 

 dish-brown, with a few occasional points of purplish-slate, as to conceal theii- 

 ground. Their shape varies from nearly spherical to an oblong-oval, some 

 measuring .60 by .55 of an inch, others with the .same breadth having a 

 length of .67 of an inch. 



Under the name of Tri>;//(xl//fr.s ftmericanv.% or Wood Wren, ^fr. Audubon 

 figured and described as a distiiu't species what is probably only a somewhat 



