176 HOUSE WREN. 



only long enough to give voice to his feelings in fidgetty, 

 scolding notes, or an effervescing, musical trill, with the 

 force of which his small body trembles. It is a wonder- 

 ful outburst of song, and the diminutive singer's enthu- 

 siasm and endurance are even more remarkable. The 

 song occupies about three seconds, and I have heard a 

 Wren, in response to a rival, sing at the rate of ten songs 

 a minute for two hours at a time. 



The House Wren nests in almost any kind of suitable 

 hole or cavity, and will frequently take possession of a 

 bird box, if the House Sparrows have not already set up 

 a claim to the same property. To prevent intrusion from 

 the Sparrows, the entrance to the house should be made 

 not larger than a quarter of a dollar. Whatever be 

 the site the Wrens select, their surplus energy is em- 

 ployed in completely filling it with twigs, half a bushelf ul 

 being sometimes brought with endless pains. The nest 

 proper is composed of dried grasses, and is placed in the 

 center of this mass. Even in egg-laying the exhaustless 

 vitality of Wrens is shown, as many as six or eight eggs 

 being deposited. In color they are uniformly and mi- 

 nutely speckled with pinkish brown. 



The House Wren arrives from the South late in April 



and remains until October. Shortly before its departure 



in the fall a Wren comes from the 



n ^ ter T ren ' ; North that resembles the House Wren 



Troglodytes hiemahs. . 



in appearance, but is smaller and has 

 the under parts pale brown, the breast and belly being 

 finely barred with a darker shade of the same color. 

 This is the Winter Wren, a bird that nests from north- 

 ern New England northward and southward along the 

 crests of the Alleghanies to North Carolina. It remains 

 with us in small numbers throughout the winter, return- 

 ing to its summer home in April. Mr. Burroughs writes 

 of the Winter Wren's song as a " wild, sweet, rhythmical 



