WRENS 



The western house \\Ten resembles its 

 cousin of the East in both habits and song, 

 and Hves the same jolly Hfe in the midst of its 

 chosen surroundings of tangle and brush pile, 

 or in the shrubbery about the home. Wher- 

 ever there is thick cover in which to range, 

 there it will be found, from sea level to moun- 

 tain top. It is particularly fond of brush- 

 grown fence rows along the edges of old fields 

 where it may be heard singing or scolding by 

 turns as it seeks its food in the tangle, or on 

 the ground running along the lower rail of a 

 fence and in and out amongst the weed stalks 

 like a mouse. The song is a bubbling, rollick- 

 ing performance that goes on incessantly 

 from daylight until dark, interspersed with 

 much scolding if an intruder happens on its 

 hunting grounds or comes too near its nest. 

 The nest of the house wren is a bulky mass of 

 twigs, grass and weed stems, lined with moss 

 and feathers and placed indifferently in 

 natural cavities in trees, in old woodpecker 

 holes, in cracks and crannies about old build- 

 ings, and often in bird boxes. The house 

 wren is frequently found as far north as 

 the Columbia River during the winter 

 although most of the family migrate to 

 the southern border of the United States in 

 the fall. 



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