The Birds and Poets 113 



is sometimes called the black swallow, although 

 it is about twice the size of a barn swallow. It is 

 a not uncommon summer resident, usually nesting 

 adjacent to marshy lakes. 



The western house wren is the species now so 

 common in all our suburbs and country towns^ 

 building in boxes erected on the lawns. I once 

 found a nest of this little bird in the side of a 

 straw stack, which presented a striking example 

 of the persistence of instinct. The house wren 

 always builds its nest of coarse sticks, and in build- 

 ing its nest in the straw stack the bird faithfully 

 followed the traditions of her race in this regard 

 and carried coarse dead twigs into the soft straw, 

 although the latter would have made a much more 

 suitable cradle for the eggs and young, but the 

 little wren, guided solely by instinct, was not 

 capable of thinking this out for herself. 



This bird sometimes nests in suitable holes 

 and natural cavities in the remote woods, and 

 I observed a pair back in the deep woods on the 

 occasion of my trip to Libertyville. When found 

 in the yards, in artificial boxes, it may be unmis- 

 takably set down as a house wren, but when seen 

 in the woods it must needs be distinguished from 

 the Carolina wren and the winter wren. This may 

 be done without much difficulty, because the Caro- 

 lina has a distinct white line over the eye, and 

 the winter wren is a migrant, to be seen only in 

 the spring and fall, and then always hopping 

 in and out under old stumps and logs in the 



