350 



GARDEN GUIDE 



The House Wren 



"Whose bubbling song is 

 such a joy all through the 



Spring and Summer" 

 Courtesy U. S. Farmers' 

 Bulletin, No. 755 



stain it a dark grayish brown, and if the pro- 

 portions are right, the birds will do their part. 



Bluebirds like to nest rather low. The 

 house should be placed either on a pole in the 

 garden, about seven or eight feet above the 

 ground, or on a tree branch, perhaps a httle 

 higher. The pole or branch should be so slen- 

 der that a cat would not venture to climb it, 

 that is, not more than one and one-half inches 

 thick; and if a pole, preferably some smooth, 

 hard wood like a rake handle or the thick end 

 of a bamboo fish pole. 



The wren, whose bubbling song is such a 

 joy all through the Spring and Summer, does not get here so early as 

 the bluebird and might easily find all the nesting sites occupied, 

 were it not for one thing. His tiny body will squeeze in where no 

 sparrow or starling or bluebird could obtrude, and while he might try 

 the bluebird box, the first pair of bluebirds or sparrows to come along 

 would surely oust him. 



An entrance hole one inch in diameter is the solution, and if the 

 interior is* no more than three and one-half or four inches square by six 

 inches long, the larger bird will not even look in more than once. 



Wrens have been known to nest in many curious places, such as the 

 sleeve of an old coat, an old boot, a bomb shell, a pump, an empty 

 tomato can, and perhaps the most curious of all, a human skull. 



The great majority of wrens, however, nest in a hollow limb or tree 

 trunk, and naturally the bird house which most resembles such a loca- 

 tion will be the most likely to attract these tireless little bug hunterst 

 The ideal box would be the one which most nearly resembles a big kno. 

 on the side of the tree trunk. 



A bluebird does not seem to care how 

 exposed the house may be to the sun, in fact, 

 he rather likes an open situation, but I have 

 yet to see a wren's nest where the entrance 

 was not well shaded, so, to guard against the 

 gardener, who might not know this pecuHarity 

 of the cunning httle brown fellow, the bird 

 house man should provide a good overhang to 

 the roof of the wren house, also a little perch ^j^^ Robin 



just below that entrance hole and be sure "How cheery his song at 

 once more that same entrance hole'is round f''^ f 



J ^, . Courtesy Natl Ass n of 



ana no more than an mch m diameter. A Audubon Societies 



