194 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



This was proved by a photograph, reproduced in 

 one of the magazines a few years ago, which 

 showed a House Wren's nest built neatly in one 

 of the hip pockets of a pair of fishing trousers 

 which some dutiful Mrs. Izaak Walton had hung 

 out on a line to dry. It is a safe conjecture 

 that Izaak had to do his fishing in another pair 

 of trousers until that little domestic aflfair had 

 been completed. 



Phutu by H. K. JuIj Courtrsy o£ Outing Pub. Co. 



HOUSE WREN 

 Emerging from nest in an old can nailed to an apple tree 



An experiment of Mr. J. Alden Loring, an ex- 

 perienced field-naturalist of Owego, N. Y., 

 demonstrated in a most interesting and conclu- 

 sive manner the homing instinct of a particular 

 House ^^'ren. The bird built her nest in a bird- 

 box in Mr. Loring's back yard, and he tamed her 

 so that she would take meal worms out of his 

 hand. Jenny disappeared in the fall and doubt- 

 less made the long migratory journey to the 



southland. The following spring, Mr. Loring 

 saw a pair of the birds examining his bird-box 

 and took his stand as he had the year before, 

 holding out meal worms in his hand. In a few 

 minutes one of the birds alighted on his arm, 

 with very little show of fear, and seized one of 

 the worms. As it had taken much patience and 

 persistence to overcome the bird's fear, Mr. Lor- 

 ing regarded this as conclusive proof that this 

 little Wren was the very one he had tamed the 

 year before. George Gladden. 



As regards food habits, the House Wren is 

 entirely beneficial. Practically he may be said 

 to live upon animal food alone, for an examina- 

 tion of fifty-two stomachs showed that 98 per 

 cent, of the contents was made up of insects or 

 their allies, and only 2 per cent, was vegetable 

 food, including bits of grass and similar matter, 

 evidently taken by accident with the insects. 

 Half of this food consisted of grasshoppers and 

 beetles; the remainder, of caterpillars, bugs, and 

 s[)iders. 



Dr. Eaton notices that House Wrens pay 

 frequent visits to the nests of Yellow Warblers, 

 Chipping Sparrows, and other species which live 

 near his home, and peck small holes in the eggs. 



In western North America the House Wren 

 is decidedly paler and grayer and his back and 

 shoulders are usually distinctly barred with 

 dusky ; he is also larger. The \\^estern House 

 Wren, or Parkman Wren (Troglodvtes acdon 

 parkiiiani). as he is called, breeds from southern 

 British Columbia, northern Alberta, central 

 Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba south to 

 Lower California, southern Arizona, southwest- 

 ern Texas, southern Missouri, and southern 

 Illinois. In the winter he is found from Cali- 

 fornia and Texas south into Mexico. 



WINTER WREN 



Nannus hiemalis hiemalis ( Jlcillot) 



A. n, U. Number 722 ^oe ("o'nr Plate 10-' 



Other Names. — Wood Wren ; Mouse Wren : Spruce 

 Wren ; Short-tailed Wren. 



General Description. — Length. 4 inches. Upper 

 parts, reddish-brown ; under parts, pale wood-brown, 

 speckled with dusky. Bill, shorter than head, very 

 slender, and awl-shaped ; wings, short and rounded ; 

 tail. 2^ length of wing, much rounded, the feathers 

 narrow with rounded tips. 



Color. — Above, reddish-brown, the back, shoulders, 



and rump barred with dusky : tail, light chestnut-brown 

 nr reddish-brown, narrowly Csoraetimes indistinctly) 

 barred with dusky : wings, similar in color to back, 

 barred with dusky ; under eye and ear regions, 

 brownish-bufify, narrowly streaked with brown ; a nar- 

 row stripe of brownish-buffy over the eye and a nar- 

 row stripe of brown back of the eye; cheek region, 

 chin, throat, and chest, light wood-brown or pale cin- 

 namon ; the lower throat and chest, sometimes speckled 



