32 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
he never knows when he has enough furniture 
for his house. He will bring twigs and stuff 
them into the box or hole, till he can’t get 
another one in. Sometimes even till his mate 
can’t get in herself. A pair began to build in 
a shed room, and apparently set out to fill the 
whole room with twigs. They brought in so 
much stuff that the owner had to stop up the hole 
they used for a door and make them go some- 
where else. He was willing to share the room 
with them, but he could n’t spare the whole. 
The house wren is a plucky little fellow, and 
as he likes the same kind of places the English 
sparrow wants, they often quarrel over a box or 
a nice snug hole. Small as he is, the wren often 
succeeds in keeping the place he wants, and 
driving the sparrow away. 
English sparrows can be kept out of wren 
houses by making the opening too small for the 
bigger bird. An auger hole one inch in diame- 
ter will be large enough for wrens, but too small 
for sparrows. A sparrow has sometimes been 
seen trying to get into one of these wren boxes, 
and very droll he looks, when he sticks his head 
in, and struggles and kicks violently to push 
himself in. 
I found a pair of house wrens in Colorado one 
summer. The singer spent most of his time 
