WRENS. 81 
clearing our bushes and fruit trees of insects and larvee 
—a benefactor to the husbandman and _horticulturist. 
His usefulness has no drawbacks, as he neither disturbs 
bud nor grain, being entirely insectivorous in his habits. 
A gentleman in Central New York, appreciating the 
advantage of having a colony of such workers on his 
premises, provided nesting places for a goodly number, 
and for several years a score of nests were built in the 
orchard and near the house. By this means his vines 
and trees bore plentifully of fruit. Finally the sparrow 
struck this locality in such numbers that his friends 
were driven away. 
The nests of the wrens are variable, differing as 
widely in size and material as in the places in which they 
are built. Some are small and compact, made almost 
wholly of the finest fabrics, while others on the outside 
are of coarse sticks, sometimes in immense quantities, 
but inside they are all neatly finished and deftly lined 
with the softest of stuffs—much of it down and soft 
wool. The eggs are from six to nine in number, of a 
delicate pinkish white and finely dotted with reddish 
brown. Two broods, and sometimes three are raised in 
a season. 
The long-billed marsh wrens (Cistothorus palustris) 
probably are second in point of number, but are more 
local in their distribution. They are principally found 
in swampy tracts of the interior, and in marshes along 
the coasts of rivers, lakes and oceans. They are more 
gregarious than the others of the family, and colonize 
somewhat in nesting. They are vivacious and musical 
