THE HOUSE WREK 



TF YOU want some jolly little neighbours for 

 -*• the summer, invite the wrens to live near you 

 year after year by putting up small, one-family 

 box-houses under the eaves of the bam, the 

 cow-shed, or the chicken-house, on the grape 

 arboiir or in the orchard. Beware of a pair of 

 nesting wrens in a box nailed against a piazza 

 post: they beat any alarm clock for arousing 

 the family at sunrise. 



Save the starch boxes, cover them with 

 strips of bark, or give them two coats of paint 

 to match the building they are to be nailed on. 

 Cut a hole that you have marked on one end of 

 each box by drawing a lead pencil around a 

 silver quarter of a dollar. A larger hole would 

 mean that English sparrows, who push them- 

 selves everywhere where not invited, would 

 probably take possession of each house as fast 

 as you nailed it up. Of course the little one- 

 roomed cottages should have a number of small 

 holes bored on the sides near the top to give the 

 wrens plenty of fresh air. Have the boxes in 

 place not later than the first of April — then 

 watch. Would it not be a pity for any would-be 

 tenants to pass by your home because they could 



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