G WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. 



The wrens are models of industry. Two to three broods a year Avith 

 from five to eight youngsters in a brood leave no chance for race 

 suicide. With so many little ones to care for they need more than 

 an eight hour day. The wren begins his song and his search for in- 

 sects by half past four in the morning and keeps up both as long 

 as he can see. He and Mrs. Wren are said to make as many as 

 three hundred visits to the nest per day. This is probably when the 

 yoting are about ready to leave the nest. 



The wrens hunt on and near the ground, under and among plants 

 and bushes. They run along the ground like a streak and in t]\e 

 dusk are easily mistaken for mice. 



The gardener can afford to be friendly to these little brown mit^^s, 



for their hundreds of visits each day to the bean patch and lettuce 



bed mean the destruction of great numbers of caterpillars and full 



. gro\\ai insects that would live on the vegetables if they were given 



a chance. 



Almost anyone may have the pleasure of the company of a pair 

 of wrens if he will extend the proper invitation. Nor Is the invita- 

 tion a difficult one to extend. Any box with a small hole in it if 

 placed in a tree,, on a pole, or among vines where he can easily find 

 it will prove attractive. The door way should be only a little larger 

 than a silver quarter, say one and one-eighth inches, and should bo 

 about three or four inches above the bottom of the box. If the door- 

 way is much larger than a quarter, the bluebird, tree swalloAV or 

 English sparrow is likely to appropriate the box. An old wooden 

 shoe, a boot, a tO'm.ato can, an olive bottle, a coat pocket, a gourd 

 with a hole in it, a knothole in the side of a house are among the 

 forms of invitation that have proved acceptable to the wrens. 



There seems to be a family feud between the wrens and bluebirds. 

 If, therefore, the bluebirds are already established on the premises, 

 it would be wise to place the w^ren box as far away as possible ; even 

 then the bluebird may drive the wren to a neighboring yard. 



This is more likely to happen in the spring before the vines and 

 leaves offer the wren good hiding places. 



The wren is probably the cause of this ill feeling. He can not 

 resist the temptation to enter every hole he finds. He has a passion 

 for house cleaning or for mischief, maybe for both. He slips into 

 the boxes of the bluebirds and swallows and thro\A^s out their nest- 

 ing material, not for use in his own nest, but apparently just for 

 fun. He will bring bit after bit, feather after feather to the 

 doorw^ay and flirt it out. With head tilted to one side he watches, 

 with apparent pleasure, the bit or feather fall or float away. 



No wonder that the bluebird does not wish him for a neighbor. 



