THE HOUSE WREN 



By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



^t\t i|5ational ^association of ^audufaon Societies 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 39 



SINCE the work of bird protection has become a matter of international 

 interest, we have heard a great deal of vanishing species and of the dis- 

 couraging side of the matter, while far less has been said about the increase 

 of certain species of our most familiar birds, which can be still further augmented 

 by a little care. 



We cannot prevent, if we would, the trend of civilization that drains and 

 reclaims the marshes and swampy woods dear to the water-fowl and so-called 

 shore-birds. We cannot check, or even guide, the over-thrifty forestry that does 

 away with the moss-grown stumps — picturesque in their decay, — and fills up 

 with cement every crack or knot-hole suitable for Owl, Chickadee, Nuthatch, 

 or Woodpecker; but there are a dozen birds still abundant upon which we depend 

 for home music, the concerts of the garden and nearby fields, and it is possible 

 to keep these with us indefinitely if we only see that suitable nesting-places 

 are left them, or lacking these, provide substitutes. 



Rare species may grow rarer, to the despair of the ornithologists who desire 

 to collect them for the purpose of study or exchange. The Rufled Grouse and 

 Quail are disappearing from many old-time hunting-grounds, but hereabouts, 

 this summer, the dozen species of song birds upon which we depend were never 

 more numerous or in better voice. 



Run over this list and you will find that it furnishes both soloists and the 

 chorus: Wood Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Robin, Catbird, Song Sparrow, Gold- 

 finch, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, ^Nleadowlark, Bobolink, 

 Red-eyed \'ireo and, last and least in size, though not in importance, the House 

 Wren. 



You may not be able to oft'er the Brown Thrasher the bit of thick brush that 

 he loves, the Oriole a high swaying elm or the Meadowlark and Bobolink a 

 field that either remains uncut, or where the haying is delayed beyond nesting- 

 time, but very cramped and bare must be the suburban home that does not 

 oft'er the Robin and the House Wren a lodging. As for the latter bird of the keen 

 eye, sharp tongue and eloquent tail, there is positively no excuse for being without 

 one or more pairs of them. 



The family of Mockers and Thrashers to which our House Wren, together 

 with his numerous cousins of tropical America, belongs, is a most interesting 

 one, and though containing two distinct sub-families, the species of both have 

 strongly marked characteristics in common. While the Mockers have the greatest 



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