BIRDS USEFUL TO FARM AND ORCHARD 629 
hibernating insects and insects’ eggs, as 
well as spiders and spiders’ eggs, that are 
missed by the summer birds. On its bill 
of fare we find no product of husbandry 
nor any useful insects. 
House Wren 
Troglodytes aedon 
Length, four ani three-fourths inches 
The only one of our wrens with wholly 
whitish underparts that lacks a light line 
over the eye. 
Range 
Breeds throughout the United States 
(except the South Atlantic and Gulf 
states) and Southern Canada; winters 
in the Southern United States and Mexico. 
Habits and Economic Status 
The rich, bubbling song of the familiar 
little house wren is one of the sweetest 
associations connected with country and 
suburban life. Its tiny body, long bill, 
sharp eyes, and strong feet peculiarly 
adapt it for creeping into all sorts of 
nooks and crannies where lurk the in- 
sects it feeds on. A cavity in a fence 
post, a hole in a tree, or a box will be 
welcomed alike by this busybody as a 
nesting site; but since the advent of the 
quarrelsome English sparrow such domi- 
ciles are at a premium and the wren’s 
eggs and family are safe only in cavities 
having entrances too small to admit the 
sparrow. Hence it behooves the farmer’s 
boy to provide boxes the entrances to 
which are about an inch in diameter, 
nailing these under gables of barns and 
outhouses or in orchard trees. In this 
way the numbers of this useful bird can 
be increased, greatly to the advantage of 
the farmer. Grasshoppers, beetles, cater- 
Pillars, bugs, and spiders are the prin- 
cipal elements of its food. Cutworms, 
weevils, ticks, and plant lice are among 
the injurious forms eaten. The nestlings 
of house wrens consume great quantities 
of insects. 
Brown Thrasher 
Toxrostoma rufum 
Length, about 11 inches. Brownish 
red above, heavily streaked with black be- 
low. 
Range 
Breeds from the Gulf states to Southern 
Canada and west to Colorado, Wyoming, 
and Montana; winters in the southern 
half of the Hastern United States. 
Habits and Economic Status 
The brown thrasher is more retiring 
than either the mocking bird or catbird, 
but like them, is a splendid singer. Not 
infrequently, indeed, its song is taken 
for that of its more famed cousin, the 
mocking bird. It is partial to thickets 
and gets much of its food from the 
ground. Its search for this is usually ac- 
companied by much scratching and scat- 
tering of leaves: whence its common 
name. Its call note is a sharp sound like 
the smacking of lips, which is useful in 
identifying this long-tailed, thicket-haunt- 
ing bird, which does not much relish 
close scrutiny. The brown thrasher is 
not so fond of fruit as the catbird and 
mocker, but devours a much larger per- 
centage of animal food. Beetles form 
one-half of the animal food, grasshop- 
pers and crickets one-fifth, caterpillars, 
including cutworms, somewhat less than 
one-fifth, and bugs, spiders, and millipeds 
comprise most of the remainder. The 
brown thrasher feeds on such coleopter- 
ous pests as wire worms, May beetles, rice 
weevils, rose beetles, and figeaters. By 
its destruction of these and other insects, 
which constitute more than 60 per cent 
of its food, the thrasher much more than 
compensates for that portion (about one- 
tenth) of its diet derived from cultivated 
crops. 
Catbird 
Dumetella carolinensis 
Length, about nine inches. The slaty 
gray plumage and black cap and tail are 
distinctive. 
Range 
Breeds throughout the United States 
west to New Mexico, Utah, Oregon and 
Washington, and in Southern Canada; 
winters from the Gulf states to Panama. 
Habits and Eeonomic Status 
In many localities the catbird is one 
of the commonest birds. Tangled growths 
are its favorite nesting places and re- 
