THE HOUSE WREN. 



I 



"It was a merry time 



When Jenny Wren was young, 

 When prettily she looked, 



And sweetly, too, she sung." 



'N looking over an old memo- 

 randum book the other day," 

 says Col. S. T. Walker, of 

 Florida, "I came across the 

 following notes concerning 

 the nesting of the House Wren. I 

 was sick at the time, and watched the 

 whole proceeding, from the laying of 

 the first stick to the conclusion. The 

 nest was placed in one of the pigeon- 

 holes of my desk, and the birds 

 effected an entrance to the room 

 through sundry cracks in the log 

 cabin. 



Nest begun ...... April 



Nest completed and first egg laid, April 27. 

 I/ast egg laid ...... May 3rd. 



Began sitting ...... May 4th. 



Hatching completed .... May i8th. 



Young began to fly .... May 27th. 



Young left the nest .... June ist. 



Total time occupied .... 47 days. 



Such is the usual time required for 

 bringing forth a brood of this species 

 of Wren, which is the best known of 

 the family. In the Atlantic states it 

 is more numerous than in the far west, 

 where wooded localities are its chosen 

 haunts, and where it is equally at 

 home in the cottonwoods of the river 

 valleys, and on the aspens j'ust below 

 the timber line on lofty mountains. 



Mrs. Osgood Wright says very 

 quaintly that the House Wren is a 

 bird who has allowed . the word male 

 to be obliterated from its social consti- 

 tution at least: that we always speak 

 of Jenny Wren: always refer to the 



Wren as she, as we do of a ship. That 

 it is Johnny Wren who sings and dis- 

 ports himself generally, but it is Jenny, 

 who, by dint of much scolding and 

 fussing, keeps herself well to the front. 

 She chooses the building-site and 

 settles all the little domestic details. 

 If Johnny does not like her choice, he 

 may go away and stay away; she will 

 remain where she has taken up her 

 abode and make a second matrimonial 

 venture. 



The House Wren's song is a merry 

 one, sudden, abrubtly ended, and fre- 

 quently repeated. It is heard from the 

 middle of April to October, and upon 

 the bird's arrival it at on'ce sets about 

 preparing its nest, a loose heap of sticks 

 with a soft lining, in holes, boxes, and 

 the like. From six to ten tiny, cream- 

 colored eggs are laid, so thickly spotted 

 with brown that the whole egg is 

 tinged. 



The House Wren is not only one 

 of our most interesting and familiar 

 neighbors, but it is useful as an 

 exterminator of insects, upon which it 

 feeds. Frequently it seizes small but- 

 terflies when on the wing. We have 

 in mind a sick child whose conva- 

 lescence was hastened and cheered by 

 the near-by presence of the merry 

 House Wren, which sings its sweet 

 little trilling song, hour after hour, 

 hardly stopping long enough to find 

 food for its meals. 



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