A House Wren's Day 



Gilbert H. Trafton 



During the summer of 19 13 the class in Nature-Study at the 

 Mankato State Normal School kept a detailed record for one day 

 of the feeding activities of a pair of house wrens which reared their 

 young in a nesting house located on the writer's grounds. The 

 class was divided into ten sections and each section watched the 

 birds for an hour and a half. 



The young wrens were two days old. The day was a typical 

 clear summer day with the temperature 67 degrees at four o'clock 

 A. M. In the afternoon there was a heavy shower. 



The observations began at four o'clock. At that time the male 

 was singing. At 4:23 the female came out of the nest, looked 

 around and went back. This was repeated several times and the 

 third time she flew away at 4 130, returning with food at 4 13 6, feed- 

 ing twice before sunrise which occurred at 4:39. From then till 

 after sunset the feeding was kept up with regularity thruout the 

 entire day till 13 minutes after sunset, the female feeding twice 

 after sunset. Thus the day of feeding extended from 4 13 6 till 7 :58, 

 a period of 15 hours and 22 minutes. 



The birds were watched till 8:20, 35 minutes after sunset. At 

 the time of the last feeding (7:58) the female entered the house and 

 had not left at 8 :2o. The male flew away at 8 : i o and did not return. 



At the end of the day the records were summarized with the 

 following results : The young birds were fed 238 times, 2 18 by the 

 female, 18 by the male, and on two visits the sex was not deter- 

 mined. 



The following table shows the summary by hours: 



Times Fed 



188 



