WRENS. 57 
WRENS. 
Since the time to which history runneth not the wren family, rep- 
resented by one or other of its members, has attached itself to the 
abodes of man. Wherever man settles some member of this group is 
ready to greet him, to take advantage of his improvements, and to 
aid in the fight against his insect enemies. The common wren of 
Europe and the house wren of eastern North America habitually 
choose crannies in buildings or fences for nesting places, or if hollow 
trees are selected they usually are near human dwellings, preferably 
fruit trees in orchards or gardens. When civilization was pushed to 
the Pacific coast, wrens were there ready to welcome the new order of 
things. In food habits the wrens proper (Troglodytine) are largely 
insectivorous. While occasionally they eat a seed or a bit of fruit, 
the quantity taken by most species during the year is so small in 
comparison to the animal portion as to be insignificant. The insects 
eaten by the wrens are mostly noxious species, such as infest the 
foliage and branches of trees and shrubs, and the domestic habits of 
the wrens enable them to attack these pests in the very places where 
they are most harmful—that is, in the garden and orchard. The 
predaceous beetles (Carabide), which live mostly on the ground, are 
protected from the wrens by this very habit, as the latter seldom for- 
ages in such places. Moreover, the species most valuable to man are 
rather large prey for such small birds. 
BEWICK WREN. 
(Thryomanes bewicki subspp. ) 
The Bewick wren is one of the species which to a considerable 
extent occupies in California the place of the house wren in the East- 
ern States. The nesting habits of the two are practically identical, 
and the economic value of the former is just as great as that of the 
latter. 
Investigation of this bird’s food is based upon the examination of 
146 stomachs taken in every month of the year. Of its diet for the 
year a little more than 97 percent consists of insects and less than 3 
percent of vegetable matter. 
Vegetable food—The largest quantity of vegetable matter was 
eaten in December and January and formed about 12 percent of the 
food in each of these months. In three months—March, June, and 
September—no vegetable food was found in the stomachs. It is 
hardly probable, however, that such would always be the case in these 
months. What was supposed to be pulp of fruit was found in one 
stomach. This was the only vegetable substance noted that could pos- 
sibly be useful to man. Six stomachs contained seeds more or less 
broken, of which only one was identified, a single seed of turkey 
