6 Gbe Marbler 



THE HOUSE WREN. {Troglodytes czdon.) 



Some years ago I put a small bird box on a post in our yard, which was 

 soon occupied by a pair of summer Wrens, and all went nicely with them 

 until a pair of English Sparrows concluded to drive the Wrens away and 

 take the house for themselves, and for three or four days the Wrens and 

 Sparrows were constantly righting, but the Wrens finally won and held 

 possession of the house, but at a great sacrifice, for after the fight was over I 

 raised the lid of the box and found the young birds dead ; the fight evidently 

 taking so much of the time and attention of the old birds that they allowed 

 their young to starve. It had been hard for me to resist using my shot gun 

 on the Sparrows but I wanted to see the result of the contest. I removed 

 the dead birds and in a short time the Wrens rebuilt the nest, and this time 

 they closed the hole for entrance until it was scarcely large enough to admit 

 my thumb. I believed that this was an intelligent design to prevent the 

 entrance of the English Sparrow, but of course it may have been only an 

 accident. 



The box was occupied by Wrens for several years and the entrance was 

 never closed afterwards, and I kept the Sparrows from any further inter- 

 ference. In this connection I would say that, at least so far as the English 

 Sparrow is concerned, the male selects the site for the nest. When I shot 

 the female the male soon returned with another mate, but when I shot the 

 male the female did not return. The Wren builds a very coarse nest and 

 fills the box nearly half full of sticks three or four inches long. As these 

 sticks are carried in the birds' mouths by the middle, they would naturally 

 strike the hole crosswise and could not enter, so when the birds get near 

 the box they turn sideways and poke the sticks in, end first, following in and 

 arranging them afterwards. 



THE AMERICAN MERGANSER. {Merganser americanus.) 



The Merganser is a fish duck nearly as large as our common domestic ■ 

 duck and is known under the names of Shelldrake and Saw-bill Duck. The 

 male is considerably larger than the female, and has a jet black head and 

 the black extends down the neck for about two inches where the color 

 changes to a pure white, the line being as regular and distinct as the paint- 

 ing on the smoke stack of a steamship. The body is generally white with 

 black markings on the wings and some black on the body, the breast is a 

 beautiful salmon color when the bird is killed, but if mounted soon fades to 

 a pure white. The male Merganser in full plumage is one of our most 

 beautiful birds. 



The female besides being smaller is of a greyish color and the plumage 

 and general appearance is entirely unlike the male, so that the sex can be 

 easily determined, even at a long distance. 



The bird is common on Lake Champlain and waters of the Adiron- 



