BIRD BANDING, THE TELLTALE OF MIGRATORY FLIGHT 



107 



Photograph by S. Prentiss Baldwin 



BORN INTO BANDAGE 



These baby House Wrens were banded before they were ten days old. There appear to be 

 no set rules governing family relations among Wrens. Sometimes the male remains and assists 

 his mate in feeding and caring for the young ; at other times he promptly deserts his family. 



bait in traps and have departed carrying 

 their identification bands. 



THE HOUSE WREN IS INCONSTANT 



It has been the common belief of nu- 

 merous bird lovers that many, if not most, 

 birds mate for life. When an observer 

 notes the arrival of a nest-hunting pair 

 about a box or other breeding place that 

 was occupied by birds of the same species 

 during the previous season, he usually as- 

 sumes that these are the identical birds of 

 the previous year, and thus the marital 

 fidelity of our feathered friends comes in 

 for commendation. 



So far as the House Wren is concerned, 

 Mr. Baldwin's observations of banded 

 birds wreck this beautiful myth. He 

 proves that not only do these birds com- 

 monly change their mates at different sea- 

 sons, but that the female Wren mav di- 

 vorce the mate with whom she raised one 

 brood in spring and rear another brood 

 the same season with a different mate. 

 The male in such case promptly consoles 

 himself with another charmer and rears 

 his second brood, frequently in a closely 

 neighboring nesting place. At other times 



the male is the unfaithful one and departs 

 with a new mate. 



These observations are based on the re- 

 peated recapture of banded birds on their 

 nests, with records of their numbers made 

 each time. In one case a mated male ap- 

 parently became interested in another fe- 

 male, but before the affair reached the 

 serious work of actually rearing a second 

 brood, he returned and resumed his duties 

 with the mate with whom he had reared 

 the first brood that season. 



Owing to rematings among Wren fam- 

 ilies, it is a complicated process to keep 

 track of their relationships. An accurate 

 record of three generations of House 

 Wrens in one limited locality needs the 

 services of a skilled genealogist. 



WRENS DO NOT OPPOSE DIVORCE 



No evidence of polygamy has been 

 found among House Wrens, but they ap- 

 pear to have a modern conception of di- 

 vorce. Sometimes they remate a second 

 season, but not often. J\Iore frequently 

 they remain mated for a second brood the 

 same season. Apparently still more fre- 

 quently a new mating takes place after the 

 first brood is reared. 



