THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Monthly Magazine Devoted Exclusively to the Interests of 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. 1. No. 2. 



GALESBURG, ILL., OCTOBER, 18%. 



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Some Notes on the Nesting of the House Wren. 



BY JAMES NEWTON BASKKTT, MEXICO, MO. 



AS mentioned by Dr. M. Gibbs in 

 the Sriciitifir American of April S, 

 1.S93, all the Wrens are known to 

 build more than one nest at the bejiJi-in- 

 ning- of the season. Even the Marsh 

 Wren, which nests in the g-rass, is in the 

 habit of building- a half dozen domiciles 

 in the immediate vicinity of each other, 

 any one of which, to our eyes, appears 

 g-ood enoug-h, but only one of which, it is 

 said, is ever used. It would seem in this 

 case that this trait was a mere matter of 

 fastidiousness. It is not confined alone 

 to the Wren family, however, as the Pur- 

 ple Gallinule, also a g-rass-builder, is 

 known to build as many as five or six- 

 sham nests. I have known our common 

 Robins and some others to build more 

 than one nest before they were suited. 



If it were not for the proximity of 

 these nests to each other in the Marsh 

 Wrens we mig-ht infer that the sham nest 

 was intended to mislead the enemy. The 

 bird's intellig-ence is certainly capable of 

 this, or if we choose we may say that it 

 should not seem strang-e that its instinct 

 should take this direction since we see 

 such a similar purpose in the broken wing- 

 act of so many g-round builders. It has 

 been often steited that the purpose of our 

 House Wren, in filling- all the holes, was 

 one of pure envy. He attempts to occupy 

 all the g-ood situations so that none other 

 may enjoy them. 



The Eng-lish, however, call these extra' 

 nests of their Wren cock-nests, asserting- 

 as a popular concensus that the cock 

 roosts in them while the female incubates, 

 and that the earlier V>roods also similarly 

 use them while succeeding- broods are 

 beinyf brouyfht forth. But in our House 



Wren I know by observation that this is 

 not the case. I have seen the male (or 

 at least one of the birds while the other 

 was incubating-) roost in the crotch of a 

 maple on consecutive nig-hts, while the ex- 

 tra nests were unoccupied. He docs not 

 necessarily choose the same crotch each 

 nig-ht, however. I know, too, that the 

 young- of the first brood use a similar sit- 

 uation, for one of my boys came in with 

 a handfull of four or five a summer or so 

 ag-o, which he had g-rabbed out of a g"roup 

 which he had seen settle in a low crotch 

 just at dusk. So our little bird does not 

 inherit the habit and is not prompted by 

 the purpose of his foreig-n cousin. 



During- the last summer I watched 

 closely, hoping- to g-et some clue to the 

 mystery, a pair of Wrens that built in my 

 yard. There were three very desirable 

 situations for a Wren home situated at 

 the apices, say, of an equilateral triang-le 

 — about thirty yards from each other. On 

 each side of the front yard was a g-ourd, 

 with a small hole in it, nailed to a tree, 

 while in the rear was a Martin box with 

 two compartments. As usual they were 

 all filled by the same pair, and it was 

 more than a week before I could tell that 

 the real nest was located in the southern 

 g-ourd. 



The male, however, kept up a continu- 

 ous battle with the Sparrows at the box, 

 and an interloping- male Wren, who was 

 anxious apparently to secure one of the 

 g-ourds. This kept him pretty busy, but 

 he held them all ( with my help against 

 the Sparrows. ) This other Wren always 

 came and went in a certain line, but I 

 could never discover that he had a nest in 

 the direction of his retreat. I was anx- 



