WRENS 



(722) Nannus hiemalis hiemalis 



(Vicill.) (Lat., wintry). 



WINTER WREN. Shortest of 

 our wrens. Plumage as shown; up- 

 per parts dark brown, brightest on 

 the rump, where there are concealed 

 whitish spots; wings and tail, and to 

 a less extent, the back and rump, 

 barred with blackish; a light super- 

 ciliary stripe; below whitish, shading 

 to pale cinnamon-brown on the flanks 

 and belly; flanks and under tail coverts 

 barred with blackish. L., 4.00; W., 

 1.85; T., 1.30; B., .35. Nest — Oi 

 twigs and moss; in brush heaps, under 

 roots or in crevices of any kind — 

 sometimes in tin cans; eggs white, 

 sparingly specked with reddish-brown. 



Range — Breeds from Mass., Mich, 

 and Minn, north to Newfoundland, 

 Quebec and Alberta. Winters 

 throughout the U. S. 



localities and return to the same places year after year. 

 They are sturdy little fellows and put to rout birds much 

 larger than themselves. Individually they are much more 

 than a match for English Sparrows, but this latter species 

 are cowardly; they do not fight individually, they drive other 

 birds away by mobbing them. If any one wants wrens about 

 the house, and I have yet to see any one who wotild not be 

 delighted to have them, the way to circumvent the sparrows 

 is to make the bird house with an opening not larger than an 

 inch in diameter. 



The House Wren song may well be compared to rippling, 

 bubbling laughter. He simply cannot contain his ecstasy 

 and it comes trickling out through his vibrating mandibles 

 in the form of a delightful song. If things go wrong or you 

 intrude upon him at an inopportune time he will scold you 

 roundly with a long-continued chattering. On one occasion, 

 I was standing beside the entrance to a wren home in an 

 apple tree when the male bird returned with a spider to feed 



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