THE HOUSE WEEN. 335 



certain false nests in which the Wren hides itself. These 

 curious edifices are raised by the Wren, though they are never 

 used for the legitimate object of a nest, and the reason of their 

 construction is not very evident. In all probability they are the 

 work of young and inexperienced nest-builders, who begin to 

 make their home, and when they have proceeded with their 

 work, find that the locality is unsuitable, and that they must 

 find another spot. The juvenile bird-nester is often woefully dis- 

 appointed by finding these nests, especially if he finds three or 

 four in a single wall or stack, as is not un&equently the case. 



As is the case with the redbreast and one or two of our more 

 familiar birds, the Wren will sometimes enter houses and build 

 its nest in curtains, on shelves, and similar localities, while the 

 interior of a disused greenhouse or stable loft is nearly sure to 

 be tenanted by a Wren and its little brood. 



An allied bird, the House Ween of Northern America {Troglo- 

 dytes cedon), has very much the same habits, and will generally 

 take possession of any box that is nailed on a wall, or a post 

 where a cat cannot reach it. On account of, probably, the bird- 

 eating snakes, which are plentiful in that country, the materials 

 of the nest are much stronger than in England, and consist 

 generally of twigs and sticks on the exterior and feathers within. 

 Wilson mentions that on a hot June day, a mower happened to 

 hang up his coat in a shed, and left it there for two or three 

 days. When he removed it from the naU on which it had hung, 

 and was putting it on, he found one of the sleeves quite choked 

 up with sticks, grass, and feathers, being the completed nest of a 

 House Wren. The unfortunate little architects were very angry 

 with the man for disturbing their home, and followed him out of 

 the shed, scolding him for the damage which he had unwittingly 

 done to their newly-finished home. 



Happily for the little bird, the popular feeling is in favour of 

 its preservation, and in many a garden there is a box for the 

 House Wren, carefully mounted on a pole like one of our barrel 

 pigeon-cotes, and each box having only a little hole by way of 

 entrance, so that no larger and more powerful bird should be 

 able to usurp the comfortable little house. In default of a box, 

 however, the House Wren will put up with very poor accom- 

 modation, and make its nest in an old hat nailed under the eaves 

 of a house, or in a flower pot, or in a hollow cocoa-nut or gourd. 



