LAND BIRDS. 673 



of April, frequently not before the first of jMay. It is recorded, however, 

 from Bay City as early as April 24, 1894 and April 21, 1896, although 

 the average is about May 4. At Palmer, Marquette county, Mr. Warren 

 reported it May 5, 1894 and May 6, 1895, and it was reported at Sault Ste. 

 Marie May 21, 1900. Dates of departure in the fall are difficult to get, 

 since the bird withdraws from the settled districts after the nesting season 

 and is seldom noticed except by the careful collector, and its disappearance 

 from these wild regions goes unrecorded. Mr. Swales states that it leaves 

 the vicinity of Detroit usually about September 20, but that he saw several 

 as late as October 9, 1889. 



Its habits are too well known to need more than a passing mention. 

 It is one of the most familiar birds of our dooryards, coming even into the 

 heart of the larger cities wherever it is assured of protection against the 

 English Sparrow. It occupies boxes prepared for its use, but seems always 

 to have a preference for nooks and crannies about houses and outbuildings, 

 and often puts its nest in most unexpected places. A fish basket, a coffee 

 pot, the sleeve of an unu.sed coat, a half-filled box of clothes pins, a cigar 

 box, are among the places occasionally occupied, and Leon J. Cole states 

 that he has found the nest in tin cans, once in a bathing hat hung up against 

 the wall, and again in the interior of a partially used ball of binder-twine, 

 while another nest was placed in the folds of a horse blanket hung in a 

 corn crib. The usual nesting place is a natural cavity in a tree, either a 

 hollow formed by decay, or the deserted hole of a woodpecker, and in 

 unsettled regions doubtless the great majority of nests are placed in such 

 situations. The material of the nest is as varied as the nesting sites, 

 consisting largely of short twigs, with which the cavity is largely filled, 

 and within this is built the nest proper, consisting of grasses, straws, roots, 

 hairs, etc., often more or less warmly lined with cotton, wool and feathers, 

 although all these soft materials are sometimes absent from completed 

 nests. The first nests are built in May, early or late according to latitude, 

 and a second brood is usually reared in July. 



The eggs vary in number from six to ten and are commonly pinkish- 

 white or cream color, thickly and finely speckled with reddish brown, 

 the markings covering the entire egg, and often being so dense at the larger 

 end as to entirely obscure the ground color. Sometimes the eggs' seem 

 to be uniform mahogany color. The}^ average .65 by .50 inches. 



The House Wren is one of the species which can be greatly increased 

 in numbers by providing it with suitable nesting places. This fact has 

 been shown repeatedly, and we have had a good illustration at the 

 Agricultural College, where in 1896 there were but one or two pairs 

 nesting on the campus. About thirty nesting boxes w^ere prepared and 

 distributed about the grounds, and although the English Sparrow took 

 possession of many of them, the Wrens at once occupied several 

 and each year they have increased in numbers until during the 

 summer of 1906 there were at least twelve pairs nesting upon the 

 campus. It is often recommended that nesting boxes for Wrens be 

 ])i"ovided with a hole so small that the Sparrows cannot enter, and un- 

 doubtedly in some cases Wrens occu])y such boxes and avoid much persecu- 

 tion from the Sparrows. We have found, however, by repeated experi- 

 ments, that when two boxes equally suitable in other respects have circular 

 openings of different sizes, the smaller one just large enough to admit a 

 Wren, this bird almost invaria])l3^ selects the box with the lan/cr opening, 

 and in two instances careful observation showed that the Wrens had great 

 85 



