46 HOUSE WEEN 



ing materials with his mate while the tennis balls 

 of Miss Porter's girls are flying through the air. 



In building, Wrens abhor a vacuum. One pair 

 were so possessed to fill a space they had chosen 

 that their eggs actually addled while they were 

 stuffing in twigs ! The eggs are rather novel in 

 color, being uniformly marked with fine pinkish 

 spots. 



Tin fruit cans, though not highly decorative, 

 make good nests for the wrenkins, who also like 

 olive jars and other structures not wholly modern 

 in matters of plumbing and ventilation. When 

 a tin can is used, it is well to turn back the lid 

 and put in a cap of wood with a hole just large 

 enough to admit the Wren and just small enough 

 to keep out the House Sparrow; for, like the 

 Bluebird, the Wren is greatly pestered by this 

 grasping monopolist. 



One little bird who lived at Sing Sing, New 

 York, was fairly besieged by the Sparrows. Fortu- 

 nately it built near the house of a special cham- 

 pion of birds, Dr. A. K. Fisher, and whenever 

 the doctor heard a commotion he would go to its 

 assistance, shooting down the Sparrows that were 

 tormenting it. One day, when the familiar note 

 of alarm came and he hurried to the window, the 

 Sparrow was so near the Wren that the doctor 

 had to shoot with great care not to hit his little 

 friend. The Wren was not at all disturbed, how- 

 ever, but sat on his branch unmoved while the 



