WRENS. 49 
uttered like dissyllabic words, bubbling out and effer- 
vescing as though the little body had been charged 
with musical carbonic acid gas. Few other native birds 
show such fondness for the companionship of man. 
About country houses and village lawns he is the 
commonest of the native birds. Before the sparrow 
pest became so general, he was very abundant in cities, 
often occupying the little bird houses attached to trees 
or buildings, or making his nest in some niche in the 
wall, where often two broods were raised in one season. 
Unlike many other birds, the house wren sings most 
near its nest. If the nest is in the dry limb of a tree, 
you will hear the male bird only a few feet from the 
structure, above it, below it, or on one side, changing 
continually his place and attitude, appearing only intent 
to utter the greatest number of songs in the shortest 
possible time. If the nest is placed in a stump, then he 
will do most of his singing from this or from an adjoin- 
ing stump. When he builds in a cranny or niche of the 
wall of a dwelling, he will sg by the hour from the 
roof, going from gable to gable on the ridge, stopping 
occasionally to scold at the dog or cat below. The roof 
of the country barn is one of his favorite perches, when 
he has a nest near by. Sometimes he builds sham 
nests not very far from the one containing the treasures 
of eggs or young; these are only “make believes,” 
never finished, and with no attempt at concealment. 
Whether he does this extra work for pastime in the 
exuberance of spirits, or as a stratagem to divert 
attention from the real nest, is aquestion. In astumpy 
