WEENS. 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 (Troglodytina?) 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 whero 

 they are most harmful — that is, in the garden and orchard. The 

 predaceous beetles (Carabidse), 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. 



{Tliryomanes hcwicJci 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 alwa}^s 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 



