EASTERN HOUSE WREN 131 



food-carrying capacity of young birds over adults. Through a large 

 series of measurements he has found that the average length of the 

 intestine of a house wren one day old is 4.2 centimeters, and by the 

 time it is 11 days old it reaches a maximum of 12.5 centimeters. He 

 finds the value obtained by dividing the length of the intestine by the 

 body weight decreases from 2.80 at the time of hatching to 1.31 at 11 

 days. There is a gradual decrease in this proportion with increasing 

 age until the birds become adults. Tests indicate that food passes 

 through the entire alimentary tract in approximately 11/2 hours, and 

 thus the food supply must be constantly replenished. Stomachs ex- 

 amined at all hours of the day reveal that they are seldom empty and 

 indicate that food is taken repeatedly even though the stomach al- 

 ready contains food. 



Hervey Brackbill (MS.) , of Baltimore, Md., has attempted to as- 

 certain the source of the food brought to the nestlings. He carefully 

 watched the adult bird during 152 feedings to determine the places 

 of its foraging. The parent flew out of sight on 107 occasions, but 

 in 45 instances he was able to follow the bird to its hunting grounds. 

 On 21 of the trips it went to the ground, a clipped lawn, wild land 

 covered with tall grass and weeds, and the gutter of an asphalt-paved 

 road. Twenty times it secured the food from a tree, one time climb- 

 ing up the trunk of the nest tree after the fashion of a brown creeper 

 to pick off a moth. It resorted to a bush three times, and once it 

 hawked its prey by flying out in a swift loop from the nest tree. 



Voice. — The loud clear song of the house wren is one of the domi- 

 nant characteristics of its striking personality. The Chippewa In- 

 dians, who were keen observers of nature, fully recognized this trait 

 as revealed by their name for the house wren: O-du-nd-mis-sug-ud- 

 da-we'-shi., meaning a big noise for its size (Cooke, 1884). 



The scolding or alarm note of the house wren is a harsh, grating 

 chatter, but the song is a burst of melody, a rather loud, hurried, 

 strenuous, bubbling outpouring — shrill, ecstatic, and difficult to de- 

 scribe or to translate into written words. It is a varied song, but to 

 human ears it is not musical or nearly so appealing as that of its 

 relative, the Carolina wren. The persistent repetition of its nervous 

 energetic outbursts has after a time a tendency to tire the listener. 



Dr. Winsor M. Tyler, in correspondence, writes of the song as fol- 

 lows ; "The house wren's song is a simple little smooth-running strain, 

 a common form begins with a chatter of rapid notes and then, with- 

 out pause, runs down the scale in a cascade of seemingly doubled notes. 

 The syllables tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle suggest it some- 

 what. It varies in form a great deal in minor details and is often full- 

 bodied in tone of voice, but it is practically always delivered with 

 the customary gush and tiresome reiteration. When disturbed, and 



