RELATION OF BIRDS TO HORTICULTURE. 423 



abundant, aa during- grasshopper invasions, and they have no 

 longer to take care of their young. This, however, can take place 

 only early in spring and late in fall, when the bulk of the insects 

 have not yet come or have already disappeared. But, is it not very 

 possible that a bird, like a human biped, may be fond of a certain 

 kind of food, may, perhaps, prefer noxious insects to beneficial or 

 indifferent ones. All the dissections, however, have not shown any 

 Buch preference, and we find in the crop of insectivorous birds not 

 alone injurious insects but beneficial and indifferent ones as well. 

 The fact is this, birds are neither trained entomologists nor botan- 

 ists and do not care for the interests of horticulturists nor farmers, 

 being simply interested in obtaining- food with the least amount 

 of labor. 



I do not wish to say that insectivorous birds are not beneficial, be- 

 cause at the present time we know too little about it. Many dissec- 

 tions have to be made, and have to be made at all times of the 

 summer, to give us a true insight in the food habits of the birds. 

 We know already that a bird may be beneficial in the spring and 

 destructive in the fall. We also know that a bird may be of great 

 benefit to horticulturists in one locality and be the opposite in 

 another one. Until we know more about such things, it is wise to 

 give all birds the benefit of the doubt, especially as birds are the 

 sesthetic features of our fields and forests and well deserve our pro- 

 tection on account of their songs and pleasing forms and habits. 



THE HOUSE WREN. 



During the last two suminers, it has been my aim to study the 

 house wren, a bird fairly common in many parts of the state, but 

 one we should invite to our homes. At present it is most commonly 

 found in woods, especially in thickets near the borders. We have 

 the house wren with us in two forms; the one is the typical form. 

 Troglodytes aedon, and the other its variety, T. Parkmanii, but 

 both are so similar in general appearance that only a person fond 

 of grinding out species can perceive much of a difference. Both 

 appear about the 2oth of April and do not leave the state until late 

 in September. They commence building their nests as early as the 

 10th of May. Nests built near houses can be found in all sorts of 

 odd places. I found one in the tattei'ed dress of a scare-crow and 

 another in an old hat suspended from a tree. As a general rule, 

 however, house wrens prefer such places as boxes, holes in posts, 

 chinks, crevices under rafters and cornices of buildings and hollow 

 branches of trees. All such places are well out of reach of maraud- 

 ing cats. The birds when building their nests assail without fear 

 all beasts and birds that venture near, and even pussy herself must 

 be upon the defensive while meditating an attack, and while she 

 raises her paw to strike she is forced to shut her eyes. The nest is 

 usually composed of leaves, cotton, feathers, hair and other material. 

 In case they have selected a large cavity for the nest, they not un- 

 frequently fill it with very numerous twigs, the thickness of a pencil 

 and three or more inches in length. Upon and in this bulky foun- 

 dation they build their small nest, which contains later from seven 



