THE HOUSE-WREN 



ALEXANDER WILSON 



THIS well-known and familiar bird arrives in Pennsylvania 

 about the middle of April. About the 8th or loth of 

 May it begins to build its nest, sometimes in the wooden 

 cornice under the eaves or in a hollow cherry-tree, but most 

 commonly in small boxes fixed on the top of a pole in or near 

 the garden. It is partial to such situations because of the 

 great numbers of caterpillars and other larvae which may be 

 found in the vicinity. 



If all these nesting conveniences are wanting, the wren will 

 even put up with an old hat, nailed on the weather-boards, 

 with a small hole for entrance. If even this be denied him he 

 will find some hole, corner or crevice about the house, barn, or 

 stable rather than abandon the dwellings of man. 



The twigs with which the outward parts of the nest are 

 constructed are short and crooked that they may the better 

 hook in with one another. The hole or entrance is so much 

 shut up to prevent the intrusion of snakes or cats that it 

 appears almost impossible that the body of the bird could get in. 

 On the inside there is a layer of fine dried stalks of grass, and 

 lastly of feathers. There are six or seven, and sometimes 

 nine eggs, of a red- purplish flesh color, innumerable fine grains 

 of that tint being thickly sprinkled over the whole surface. 

 Two broods are generally raised each season, the first leaving 

 the nest about the ist of June, the second in July. 



The little bird has a strong antipathy to cats; for having 



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