80 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS. 



The period of incubation is ten days. A little 

 longer time elapses, and .the young which are 

 objects of the tenderest solicitude by their parents, 

 are ready to vacate the nest. Their parents work 

 diligently to supply their wants. At first their food 

 consists chiefly of diptera and the larvae of the 

 smaller lepidoptera; other kinds are added as age 

 demands. But a single brood is raised in a season. 

 After the young are able to shift for themselves, 

 they are still the objects of parental care. , 



The House Wren is pre-eminently insectivorous, ; 

 and destroys an immense number of insects for a 

 bird of its size. During the early part of its sojourn, 

 its food consists of the immature forms of G^dipoda 

 sulphured, CE. nebulosa, Caloptenus femur-rubrum , 

 among orthoptera; Harpalus pensylvanicus, H. 

 compar, Platynus cuprlpennis, Bostrichus pini, Chry- 

 somela caruleipennis, among coleopters ; Formica 

 sanguined, and F. subterranea, among hymenoptera ; 

 Syrphus obscurus, Tabanus lineola, Stomoxys calci- 

 trans, Cidex t&niorhyncfms, and other dipterous 

 forms ; and Eufitchia ribcdrid^ Anisopteryx vernata, 

 Clisiocampa Americana, and various species of lar- 

 val- Noctuids and Tortricids. 



The song of this Wren is lively and pitched in a 

 sharp key. The following syllables express with 

 tolerable accuracy its literal representation: twlt- 

 twit-twit-f chiiiii-hwlt-tim Its 



ordinary call note is a simple iiult. When pro- 

 voked its cry resembles twlt-i-chce. The notes of 

 affection which the male* addresses to his partner, 



