OUR WESTERN WRENS. 137 



kimo's igloo is made to the nest, of the same grass 

 and fiber. Wrens everywhere like shelter and 

 hidden nooks. 



Snake, no doubt, sees all this work going on, 

 and he basks in the warm sun and thinks about it. 

 Let him try to crawl up to poke his sly head into 

 mother wren's affairs, and he will be sorry he at- 

 tempted it. Cactus thorns and stickers seem made 

 on purpose to keep snakes out of wrens' nests. 

 And the rattlers find this out sooner or later. 



In this nice, warm, safe nest, four or five little 

 wrens are hatched, and grow up ready to take 

 care of themselves before snake has shed his skin 

 half a dozen times. 



Like many of our birds, the cactus-wren man- 

 ages to have the outside of her nest of one uni- 

 form color. ' We sometimes find them made of a 

 delicate red weed that grows 

 all over the barren hillsides 

 and washes. 



The Vigors wren is 

 resident in the West, 

 north and south. You 

 will find it in the 

 foothills and on the 

 brushy mountain sides 

 in summer, where it VIGORS WREN. 



