The House Wren {Troglodytes aUon) 

 By I. N. Mitchell 



The little bird sits at his door in the sun, 



Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, 

 And lets his illumined being o'errun 



With the deluge of summer it receives; 

 His mate feels the eggs beneath her w^ings, 

 And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings; 

 He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest — 

 In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best? 



— James Russell Lowell. 



The diminutive house wren frequents barns and gardens, and particularly- 

 old orchards in which the trees are partially decayed. He makes his nest in a 

 hollow branch where perhaps a woodpecker had a domicile the year before, but 

 he is a pugnacious character, and if he happens to fancy one of the boxes that 

 are put up for bluebirds, he does not hesitate to take it. He is usually not slow 

 to avail himself of boxes, gourds, tin cans, or empty jars placed for his accom- 

 modation. 



As regards food habits, the house wren is entirely beneficial. Practically, 

 he may be said to live upon animal food alone, for an examination of 52 

 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 

 spiders. As the house wren is a prolific breeder, frequently rearing in a season 

 from twelve to sixteen young, a family of these birds must cause considerable 

 reduction in the number of insects in a garden. Wrens are industrious foragers, 

 searching every tree, shrub, or vine for caterpillars, examining every post and 

 rail of the fence, and every cranny in the wall for insects or spiders. 



Range : Eastern United States and Ontario, west to Indiana and Louisiana ; 

 length, five inches ; sexes alike ; nest of twigs lined with grasses or feathers, 

 in vines, about buildings or in a hole or box ; eggs, five to eight ; broods, two 

 or three ; song, a strong, cheery warble. 



The robin, bluebird and tree- swallow have settled down to their housekeep- 

 ing by the time this little brown sprite makes his appearance and begins to look 

 around for a cozy nook or hole or box. 



He generally comes in full song and that morning is a happy one that 

 hears his joyous warble for the first time. To the grown-up this first spring 

 song of the wren is much the same as the first snow-fall to the child. 



What a singer the busy little body is ! From early in the morning till dusk 

 he repeats his short but whole-souled warble. The rests between songs are about 

 as long — or short as the song itself, so this musical mite is singing about half 

 of the time. The robin sings his "cheer-up" well into the summer, but it becomes 



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