Notes from Field and Study 



77 



■occupied it every year, but think they have, 

 for I do not think any others would occupy 

 an old nest. However, I am not sure on 

 that point. 



Fom the I'lrst, it has been an object of 

 envy to the i-iiif^lish Sparrows. The open- 

 in<^ in the lan being too small for their 

 entrance, they collect on toj) and try to 

 oppose the Wrens j^oinj^ in and out. With 

 cheerfulness of song and tnanner, the 

 Wrens succeeded in raisinj^ two broods 

 each summer. 



One day the Si)arn)w opjjosed the male 

 Wren from ,si;c)in,u; in to feed the young 

 birds, when it ])Ut up a tight, or a show of 

 (inc, and dropped il> food; that which 



FLANS F0?\AprRt)-BO>C' 



r,N FOR .\ COMMON-SEXSE 



1 found in the grass wa« part of a grass- 

 h()pi)er. Hut the Wren sang a song of 

 defiance from the sweet-pea trellis. 



With my watch in hand, I timed the 

 Wren in his songs. He sang ten to a 

 minute; that would be six hundred songs 

 in an hour, if he kept it up. Allowing 

 fourteen hours out of the twenty-four for 

 sleep and family duties, there are at least 

 ten hours devoted to vocal e.xercise. 



One evening, at dusk, I heard a sleepy 

 little song coming from the can, a lullaby 

 to the young birds, or a serenade to Jenny 

 Wren. — K. I. Metc.\lf, Minneapolis, 

 Minn. 



A Common-sense Bird-box 



The chief merit of the 'nesting-site' 

 shown in these cuts lies in the fact that 

 it is not a human invention; it is simply a 

 copy from nature. By the way, is it not a 

 ittle surprising that, with so many inven- 

 tions of elaborate 'houses' (properly so 

 called) for Martins, Swallows and Wrens, 

 no one seems to have offered, as yet, new- 

 plans and specifications for sites for 

 Orioles and Hummingbirds? 



If you cannot lay hold of a good deserted 

 Woodpecker's burrow^ Just get a stick 

 of stove-wood from the shed, or a fallen 

 branch from the nearest grove, drill an 

 auger hole an inch deep near one end of it, 

 split the stick with an a.xe, gouge out a 

 hollow in the cleft surface of each half (see 

 diagram) until the auger hole comes 

 through, nail them together again and 

 your site is complete; you have simply 

 been your own Woodpecker. 



For Martins, the 'stick' should be about 

 twenty inches long, eight in diameter, with 

 the entrance about two and one-fourth 

 inches across. For Tree Swallows, Blue- 

 birds, Nuthatches and Wrens the length 

 should be about i8 inches, the diameter 6 

 inches, and the opening as follows: Tree 

 Swallows, if; Bluebird, if; Nuthatch, i^; 

 Wren, i| inches, respectively, the dimen- 

 sions should be as follows, in the order 

 given above for Martins: i8 (about) x 6, 

 entrance, if inches; i8 (about) x 6, en- 

 trance, if inches; i8 (about) x 6, entrance 



