General Notes 95 



the House Wren has been described in ornithological literature 

 prior to 1915, it has escaped my attention. When early in July 

 of last year one of my neighbors related her observations of the 

 previous evening they seemed to be quite unusual. A little before 

 nightfall she saw a mother Wren carrying food into a hitherto 

 untenanted box, that was filled with English Sparrow trash, and 

 from which a narrow board was missing at the back. Moving 

 noiselessly up to the box she found snuggled down for the night 

 a brood of Wrens that had recently left their natal home in a 

 nearby box. Following in point of time these observations were 

 those of Miss Maude Merritt that are described in this number 

 of the Wilson Bulletin. An examination of the pages of the 

 "Annual of the Nature Study Society of Rockford, Illinois " shows 

 that Mr. Paul B. Riis had made , observations similar to those of 

 the two Iowa ladies, which antedated theirs by one year at least, 

 the following excerpts from his account have been taken: 



" Jvxne 9th. Young hatched in split log. Papa Wren .coming in 

 for a great deal of scolding, apparently too clumsy to assist in 

 feeding of young, although he had been permitted to feed Mamma 

 Wren previous to the hatching. Sheepishly and somewhat net- 

 tled, he keeps guard over the Chickadee box, possibly for a want 

 of better employment. 



" June 26th. Three tiny Wrens emerge from split log, sleeping 

 in bungalow-shaped house for several nights. 



"July 1st. Mother Wren takes her babies to the country in the 

 day time, bringing them home to sleep in the Chickadee box just 

 before dark. . . ." 



The roosting habits of the second brood of Wrens, under date 

 of August 5th, Mr. Riis describes thus: "In four days after 

 leaving the nest, the young ones were able to go to the country 

 daily for an all day's outing, returning regularly at 7:00 p. m. 

 for a week. The shelter selected by them for the night was a 

 saucer-shaped robin box well under the eaves of the summer house 

 and entirely hidden by vines. A sight it was, indeed, to see this 

 flock of Wrens in their home coming." 



Althea R. Sherman. 



National, Iowa. 



