OF VIRGINIA 329 
to by this saucy little fellow. Nest building commences 
shortly, and by April 20th to 25th a full set of eggs can 
generally be found. In the curry-comb box in the barn, 
an old horse blanket, scare crow, and a shoe are unusual 
places occupied by these birds on my farm. May 3rd 
finds sets, fresh and incubated, located in previous-year 
woodpecker holes in dead pine trees, bordering salt water. 
Second sets similarly located were found numerous June 
27th. Three broods were raised to my knowledge on 
my place, the season of 1911. The nest consists of fine 
twigs, lined with horse hair, feathers, fur, or numerous 
other soft material as locality offers, placed in any of 
the numerous above-mentioned locations. Eggs number 
from five to seven. Of pugnacious disposition, he drives 
the Carolina Wrens and Bluebirds out of any can or box 
he desires to occupy, or away from his nesting site, often 
rolling the eggs from the Carolinas’ nest out and causing 
them to be broken, thus breaking up their home. A 
pair of House Wrens repeated this act each morning after 
the Carolina Wren had laid, for four consecutive morn- 
ings, the House Wren being on a box in the back of the 
outbuilding and the Carolina Wren over the window sill 
inside. One season three pairs breeding within the vard 
completely drove away the Carolina Wrens from the out- 
buildings and wood pile, nor did they return until after 
the last House Wren had left. Eggs a creamy-white, 
spotted minutely with light reddish-brown, a much darker 
shade on the larger end, generally forming a wide ring 
or band. Size, .65x.52. They are abundantly distributed 
over our whole area. The amount of food gathered dur- 
ing the rearing of their two or three broods with us, is 
appalling, one or the other parent birds making a trip 
to the nest with food on the average of every three minutes 
during daylight. One can naturally see that at this rate 
