376 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



ONE OF MY FAVORITES, 



Even when the woods have given place to cultivated fields, and its 

 first nesting- places have been destroyed by the progress of improve- 

 ment, the House Wren does not, like some other species, forsake its 

 haunts, but continues to dwell near the habitation of man, even though 

 a towQ or city has sprung up where once the forest stood. In some 

 cases men have been thoughtful enough to provide this untiring friend 

 with a habitation by putting up boxes on posts; but where this has not 

 been done, the Wren will soon find a satisfactory nesting place for 

 himself, for no hole or corner is left unexplored, and if no other place 

 can be found it will take possession in a crevice of a wall or even the 

 pockets of an old coat if hung outside. On some occasions pumps have 

 been so persistently filled up with grass and weeds that the owners 

 were glad to provide their determined little tenants with suitable 

 houses. 



Few birds can drive away this Wren from a box or Woodpecker hole 

 to which it has taken a fancy; even though it does not require it for 

 immediate use. Though repeatedly expelled by superior force the 

 cunning bird will bide his time, and in the absence of his opponent, fill 

 up the entrance to the cavity so that the other party cannot enter, and 

 will even destroy the eggs of the other bird if they have been laid. At 

 times he will not hesitate to face in open combat birds many times his 

 size, and such is the fierceness of his attack that he nearly always con- 

 quers. 



On one occasion a pair of Wrens nested near a dwelling house, and 

 soon after she began to set, was caught and killed by a cat. The male 

 bird who had witnessed the affair and tried at the risk of his own life 

 to prevent it, ceased his song and disappeared from the premises. 

 The next day he i-eturned with a companion and incubation proceeded 

 as though nothing had happened. 



Wrens feed almost wholly on insects and their eggs, and they de- 

 stroy such immense quantities of these that they are one of the most 

 useful birds that the farmer can encourage to settle on his premises. 

 If the weatheV is favorable they come to us in the spring about the 

 middle of May and remain until during October. House Wrens have 

 always been favorites of mine and one of the clearest recollections of 

 my childhood days, is that of a pair of Wrens who took up their abode 

 in a hollow stump in the garden. What a pleasure it was when first I 

 viewed the bramble built nest and the six reddish dotted eggs. 



Jos F. HONECKER. 



