WREN, HOUSE 



Early some morning .... there will go off under 

 your window that most delightful of all alarm clocks 



the tiny, friendly house wren Like some little 



mountain spring that, having been imprisoned by winter 

 ice, now bubbles up in the spring sunshine, and goes rippling 

 along over the pebbles, tumbling over itself in merry cas- 

 cades, so this little wren's song bubbles, ripples, cascades 

 in a miniature torrent of ecstacy. 



NELTJE BLANCHAN. Bird Neighbors. 23 



The intense vitality which characterizes the life of birds 

 finds its highest expression in the wrens. Perpetual 

 motion alone describes the activity of these nervous, 

 excitable little creatures. Repose seems to be out of the 

 question; as well expect to catch a weasel asleep as to 



find a wren at rest. Tt . , T . r 22 



CHAPMAN. Bird Life. 



His nest, from preference near the house, is placed 

 beneath the eaves . . . . or in a hollow orchard tree; 

 also in the deserted cell of a woodpecker, and, when provided 

 with the convenience, in a wooden box. ... He will 

 make it even in an old hat, nailed up, and perforated with 

 a hole for entrance, or the skull of an ox stuck upon a 

 pole; and Audubon saw one deposited in the pocket of 

 a broken-down carriage .... According to Wilson, an 

 instance once occurred where a nest was made hi the sleeve 

 of a mower's coat, which was hung up . . . . in a shed 



near a barn. XT , , ,,. ~ .,, , 26 



NuttalPs Ornithology. 



It is well-known that the male wren frequently builds 

 what are called "cock nests." It is simply so full of life 



181 



