WRENS. 



81 



clearing our bushes and fruit trees of insects and larvae 

 — a benefactor to the husbandman and horticulturist. 

 His usefulness has no drawbacks, as he neither disturbs 

 bud nor grain, being entirely insectivorous in his habits. 

 A gentleman in Central 'New York, appreciating the 

 advantage of having a colony of such workers on his 

 premises, provided nesting places for a goodly number, 

 and for several years a score of nests were built in the 

 orchard and near the house. By this means his vines 

 and trees bore plentifully of fruit. Finally the sparrow 

 struck this locality in such numbers that his friends 

 were driven away. 



The nests of the wrens are variable, differing as 

 widely in size and material as in the places in which they 

 are built. Some are small and compact, made almost 

 wholly of the finest fabrics, while others on the outside 

 are of coarse sticks, sometimes in immense quantities, 

 but inside they are all neatly finished and deftly lined 

 with the softest of stuffs — much of it down and soft 

 wool. The eggs are from six to nine in number, of a 

 delicate pinkish white and finely dotted with reddish 

 brown. Two broods, and sometimes three are raised in 

 a season. 



The long-billed marsh wrens {Clstothorus palustris) 

 probably are second in point of number, but are more 

 local in their distribution. They are principally found 

 in swampy tracts of the interior, and in marshes along 

 the coasts of rivers, lakes and oceans. They are more 

 gregarious than the others of the faniil}^, and colonize 

 somewhat in nesting. They are vivacious and musical 



