THE WREN. 853 



its nest in curtains, on shelves, and similar localities, while the in- 

 terior of a disused green-house or stable-loft is nearly sure to be 

 tenanted by a Wren and its little brood. 



An allied bird, the House Wren of Northern America {Trog- 

 lodytes cedon), has very much the same habits, and will generally 

 take possession of any box that is nailed on a wall or a post 

 where a cat can not reach it. On account of, probably, the bird- 

 eating snakes, which are plentiful in that country, the materials 

 of the nest are much stronger than in England, and consist gen- 

 erally of twigs and sticks on the exterior and feathers within. 

 Wilson mentions that on a hot June day, a mower happened to 

 hang up his coat in a shed, and left it there for two or three days. 

 When he removed it from the nail on which it had huno;, and 

 was putting it on, he found one of the sleeves quite choked up 

 with sticks, grass, and feathers, being the completed nest of a 

 House Wren. The unfortunate little architects were very angry 

 with the man for disturbing their home, and followed him out of 

 the shed, scolding him for the damage which he had unwittingly 

 done to their newly-finished home. 



Happily for the little bird, the popular feeling is in favor of its 

 preservation, and in many a garden there is a box for the House 

 Wren carefully mounted on a pole like one of our barrel pigeon- 

 cotes, and each box having only a little hole by way of entrance, 

 so that no larger and more powerful bird should be able to usurp 

 the comfortable little house. In default of a box, however, the 

 House Wren will put up with very poor accommodation, and 

 make its nest in an old hat nailed under the eaves of a house, or 

 in a fiower-pot, or in a hollow cocoa-nut or gourd. There is wis- 

 dom as well as kindness in providing a home for the House Wren, 

 for it is one of the insect-eating birds, and when it is thus suited 

 with a house, it remains near the spot, to the manifest advantage 

 of the herbs and fruit. 



Of this little bird Wilson gives an interesting anecdote. "A 

 box fixed up in the window of the room where I slept was taken 

 possession of by a pair of Wrens. Already the nest was built 

 and two eggs laid, when one day, the window being open, as well 

 as the room door, the female Wren, venturing too far into the 

 room to reconnoitre, was sprung upon by grimalkin, who had 

 planted herself there for the purpose, and before relief could be 

 driven, was destroyed. Curious to see how the survivor would 

 demean himself, I watched him carefully for several days. 



Z 



