HOUSE WREN. 267 



the Mississippi, and sedulously avoiding the region generally 

 inhabited by the Carolina Wren. It is a matter of surprise 

 how this, and some other species, with wings so short and a 

 flight so fluttering, are ever capable of arriving and returning 

 from such distant countries. At any rate, come from where 

 it may, it makes its appearance in the Middle States about the 

 1 2 th or 15 th of April, and is seen in New England in the latter 

 end of that month or by the beginning of May. It takes its 

 departure for the South towards the close of September or 

 early in October, and is not known to winter within the limits 

 of the Union. 



Some time in the early part of May our little social visitor 

 enters actively into the cares as well as pleasures which preside 

 instinctively over the fiat of propagation. His nest, from pref- 

 erence, near the house, is placed beneath the eaves, in some 

 remote corner under a shed, out-house, barn, or in a hollow 

 orchard tree ; also in the deserted cell of the Woodpecker, and 

 when provided with the convenience, in a wooden box along 

 with the Martins and Bluebirds. He will make his nest even 

 in an old hat, nailed up, and perforated with a hole for en- 

 trance, or the skull of an ox stuck upon a pole ; and Audubon 

 saw one deposited in the pocket of a broken-down carriage. 

 So pertinacious is the House Wren in thus claiming the con- 

 venience and protection of human society that, according to 

 Wilson, an instance once occurred where a nest was made in 

 the sleeve of a mower's coat, which, in the month of June, was 

 hung up accidentally for two or three days in a shed near a 

 bam. 



The nest of this species, though less curious than that 

 of some other kinds, is still constructed with considerable 

 appearance of contrivance. The external approach is bar- 

 ricaded with a strong outwork of sticks, interlaced with 

 much labor and ingenuity. When the nest, therefore, is 

 placed beneath the eaves, or in some other situation contig- 

 uous to the roof of the building, the access to the inner fabric 

 is so nearly closed by this formidable mass of twigs that a 

 mere portion of the edge is alone left open for the female. 



