Illustrations of the Method 39 



I determined, however, to save the nest; but, upon coming 

 to take it down, on the 24th of July, discovered that it was 

 occupied, after all, and by a family of House Wrens. After the 

 Chickadees had moved out, the Wrens had evidently moved in. 

 The Wren is a close sitter, and when incubation is well ad- 

 vanced it is difficult to drive the female from her eggs. In the 

 present case nothing short of a violent shaking of the whole tree 

 would suffice. Finally a sleek little bird would appear at the 

 window, showing a sharp bill and clean-cut profile, and in a 

 moment go off scolding, or giving its harsh rattle, which is really 

 a signal of alarm ek-ek-ek-ek-ek-ek-ek-ek ! Then, with tail 

 cocked and with rapid, jerky movements, it would hop along 

 the fence or over the branches of a tree, turning on its shrill 

 rattle every few seconds, until confidence was restored. The 

 Wren's tail, though a very sensitive register of emotion, is not 

 invariably cocked, as might be inferred from the picture-books. 



When it seemed likely that the little Wrens were a week old, 

 I cut off the dead branch below the opening, carefully lowered 

 it to the ground, and mounted it on a pivot in the field. The 

 stump was then surrounded by a protective wire screen of 

 ample height (see page 63), and the tent was set up on the 

 morning of the following day, August 24th, at twenty minutes 

 after nine o'clock. In order to secure a clear background, a 

 white photographic screen (see p. 62) was later placed behind 

 the stump, and our outdoor observatory was complete (Fig. 9). 

 By its means the home life of old and young could be studied 

 and registered with a precision hitherto unknown. Though the 

 birds would now come and go within reach of the hand, they 

 were quite unaware of being observed. 



I watched this Wren family during parts of five days, and 

 altogether for eleven hours and five minutes. On the fourth 

 day the stump was sawn open, so as to expose the young, which 

 were then well feathered and able to crawl to the opening. 

 The illustrations of the scenes at this nest were selected from 

 a series of nearly one hundred photographs, which represent a 

 complete pictorial analysis of the behavior of this bird. 



In just a minute after entering the tent on the first day, 



