so 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
of herself in building a domicile, this little wren did, 
though, of course, it was what we would call "voluntary 
slavery." You may be sure her position in the industrial 
world was no sinecure. But she was cheery in it all, and 
Would often stop a moment on her little portico and 
gurgle her sweet and rolling ditty. 
There was work to be done on the inside of the box, 
too. Every twig had to be placed j ust right, j ust to suit 
the finical taste of the little housekeeper; for if you wiil 
lift the lid of a wren's box after the little ones have 
flown, you will find that the twigs are plaited and woven 
together in a wonderful way, to make a platform on 
which to build the nest of grass and down on the top. 
It is too bad to have to report that all the little dame's 
sedulous toil had to go for naught — but such was the 
case, and for this reason : After she had carried in twigs 
for several days and was almost ready to begin the 
building of .the nest proper, another female wren arrived 
on the scene, and, scorning the empty box by the apple 
tree, laid covetous eyes on the box already occupied by 
wren No. i. Though all house wrens are almost the 
same size, the newcomer looked to be slightly larger than 
her predecessor. Then there was war in Wrenville for a 
while. The first wren made a gallant fight for her 
rights, but in spite of all she could do, the intruder 
would get into the box and play havoc with her timbers, 
scattering them with a vengeance that was amusing to 
see. 
At such indignities wren No. i would fairly quiver 
with rage, darting about among the twigs of the tree or 
scuttling over the outside of the box, not daring to en- 
ter the doorway while her enemy was within. Strange 
to say, all her scolding was done by singing, a petulant 
quality being infused into the tones. Sometimes she 
would venture to the portico and peep into the door, but 
was invariably driven away by her masterful foe. 
The contest was kept up for several days; then the 
first wren decided to give up the useless struggle, as her 
enemy was stronger than she, and content herself with 
second or Hobson's choice— that is, the box by the apple 
tree, which she proceeded to fill up with twigs. 
And what about the interloper, wren No. 2? Well, the 
work done by her predecessor was not at all to her 
mind; she proceeded forthwith to throw out every twig, 
carrying it to the door and tossing it contemptuously to 
the ground. The box emptied of all its offensive mate- 
rial, she went to work at once to fill it up with twigs 
according to her own ideas, no doubt using many of the 
timbers that she had previously ejected with so much 
show of scorn. 
Then an armistice was declared in wrendom. So tar 
as I could see, the wrens did not interfere with each 
other's household affairs, though there was no evidence 
of a neighborly feeling. Each succeeded in bringing out 
a brood of brown and barred copies of herself. But what 
about the mates of the two rival housekeepers? They 
were never seen in the neighborhood after the quarrel 
began— at least, not by myself. It was odd, too. Had 
they killed each other in the first battle? or had they both, 
been caught by a predatory foe? or were they simply 
cowards and made off when they saw that fighting was 
the order of the day? Echo does not deign a reply. 
A few general facts relative to the natural history of 
the house wren may prove of some interest at this point. 
Mr Frank M. Chapman says that the name house wren 
has been thought to be a misnomer for our little friend, 
because these birds are found in the deep forests of the 
South, many miles from human habitations, during the 
winter. But the same is true of many other migratory 
birds which seek human society in their summer homes 
in the North, while the winter season m the South sees 
them in out-of-the-way haunts, where they are the imper- 
sonation of wildness itself. 
Besides, Mr. Chapman has this to say of our wren: 
"He is just as much of a house wren in the South as in 
the North; you will find a pair in possession- of every 
suitable dwelling. The difficulty is that in the winter 
there are more house wrens than there are houses; and, 
being of a somewhat irritable disposition, the house wren 
will not share his quarters with others of his kind. Late 
comers, therefore, who cannot get a snug nook about a 
house or outbuilding, are forced to resort to the woods. 
"In summer, when they are spread over a much greater 
area, house wrens are very particular in their choice ot 
haunts, and for this reason are locally distributed. Hav- 
ing selected a nesting site, they become much attached 
to it and return to the same place year after year. It 
may be a bird-box, a crevice in a building, a hollow in 
an apple tree, or a hole in a fence. rail; wherever it is, it 
is theirs, and they will, fight for it against all comers 
The writer has gathered a few facts relative to the 
ranee of the house wren. In northeastern Kansas these 
wrens were so common that almost every country home 
had its pair, and many a place in the towns and cities 
was similarly favored, especially in the suburbs 
rambling tour in Arkansas and Indian Territory I found 
none of these birds in the latter part of April and the 
first week of May, and the same was true at Neosho, 
Kansas; but when I went north to Hume, Mo., a viUagj 
some forty or fifty miles south of Kansas City I found 
the house wrens plentiful, . taking the place of Bew- ck , 
wrens which were seen m many places in the moie 
southerly regions visited. The last-named birds were 
Sver seen by me in northeastern Kansas during a resi- 
dence of five years and a half in that part of the State. 
Note again: In the neighborhood of Springfield O., 
where I lived for a number of years, I saw the house 
wren only a few times, and then in an old orchard, and 
never close to a human dwelling; but a pair of the sweet- 
voiced Bewick's wrens were to be seen near almost every 
Suntry and suburban home. At my, present home m 
northeastern Ohio-Canal Dover-neither the house 
wen nor his long-tailed congener is to be found, but 
the Carolina wren is the house wren here. His song 
can be heard 1-om the middle of April to the first of 
August and even later, in the residence portion of the 
town, where he and his mate rear their young. 
Nor is that all. On the 12th of April, 1903, Bewicks 
mr s sinking in a village of northern Indiana not 
more Than six <fr eight miles from the Michigan line, 
S on Tune 25 and 26 the house wrens were singing 
fn Flkhart Ind , which was about fourteen miles from 
Ihe village "ust referred to. Both of these Indiana, towns 
are considerably further north than my present home m 
Ohio and it strikes me as strange that the summer range 
of the house wren and Bewick's should be so much more 
northerly in the Hoosier State than in the Buckeye State. 
While I am not envious of my neighbors, it would be 
pleasant to have these agreeable birds for summer com- 
Pcnions at my present home. Is it not odd, too, that 
Bewick's wren is not found in northeastern Kansas in the 
summer season, while in Indiana it goes as far north as 
the extreme northern part of the State? The northern 
boundary line of its summer range must be an exceed- 
ingly wavering one. 
Returning to the house wren, it has been said that ils 
name is a misnomer. So it is, to some extent; for, while 
this little bird is very partial to houses, I have more than 
once found it breeding in the woods in Kansas, and 
sometimes quite a distance from human dwellings. One 
of these woodland tenants had selected a hole in the 
under side of a dead limb for its nest. Like its urban 
relatives, it filled up the interior of the hollow with dead 
twigs, which were far from easy to handle in the cir- 
cumstances, for whenever the little builder would fly to 
the branch below its doorway with a twig, it was com- 
pelled to wheel half way around as it flew up, catch itself 
with its claws at the under side of the log, and manipu- 
late the twig until it could push it in endwise. Many a 
timber was recalcitrant, but the little architect went on 
the good old-fashioned principle, "If at first you don't 
succeed, try, try again." The western house wren, which 
I studied in Colorado, has the same inclination to live 
a secluded sylvan life when the mood seizes it. _ 
It is fun to find the most acute and scientific bird 
students tripping now and then. No doubt some of our 
own mistakes are just as amusing to them. One of the 
best and most up-to-date scientific manuals published in 
this country declares that the Carolina wren does not 
care for the home of man ; that "his wild nature demands 
the freedom of the forests." My observations lead me to 
differ from this statement, for in Missouri, Kansas, and 
eastern Ohio, I have more than once found him nesting 
in cosy nooks and corners about country homes, and 
even in somewhat thickly tenanted portions of town. 
While this is true of some individuals, others seek 
habitats in the wildest haunts they can find, proving that 
tastes differ in the wren world as well as in the human 
world. • Leander S. Keyser. 
Destruction of Birds by Storms. 
Reference has frequently been made to the cold 
storms of the winter of 1898 and 1899, which, extending 
as far south as South Carolina and Georgia, reached the 
winter home of many migrating birds and destroyed them 
in vast numbers. Such is one of many causes, which may 
destroy bird life. It is the testimony - of all field or- 
nithologists that comparatively few migrating warblers 
were seen in New England in the spring of 1003 or of 
1904. What the cause of the scarcity may be, no one 
seems to know. 
The Fifty-first Annual Report of the Massachusetts 
State Board of Agriculture contains an extremely inter- 
esting paper on the destruction of birds by the elements 
in 1903 and 1904, by Mr. Edward Howe Forbush, or- 
nithologist to the State Board of Agriculture. Mr. For- 
bush has gathered by correspondence and otherwise an 
amount of information concerning the weather conditions 
affecting bird life which is well worth consideration. . 
After the middle of April, 1903, but little rain of any 
importance fell until the 7th of June. "In the woods, 
meantime, the -ground and its covering had become so 
dry that brush and forest fires which had broken out in 
many parts of New England spread rapidly, and in many 
cases escaped beyond control. They devastated large 
areas of wood and timber land, destroying also many 
isolated farmhouses and hamlets. * * * The amount 
of smoke and fine ashes suspended in the atmosphere 
caused so-called yellow days from June 3 to 7. The 
smoke was at times so dense in all the New England 
States as to obscure the stars at night, and during the 
day the sun appeared like a red ball in a yellow sky. The- 
wind movement was light, and smoke hung like a pall 
over the country, while the odor of burning wood filled 
the air. Vast numbers of birds' nests and^eggs and young 
must have been destroyed in these fires." 
Beginning with June 8, however, the weather became 
cloudy and rainy, and so continued until the end of the 
month. During a part of this time the temperature was 
very low— under 50 degrees— and on only four days did it 
rise above 70 degrees. With this cold and rain there 
were high winds; branches were broken from trees, and 
birds' nests with eggs or young destroyed. 
Following the heavy rains came floods; the Concord 
meadows were overflowed, as were some of the meadows 
of the Connecticut. The overflowing of the land, with the 
continuous rain and cold, removed the supply of insect 
food on which so many birds depend. All birds breeding 
on or near the ground in low land had their nests swept 
away, the young birds drowned, and their eggs destroyed. 
Red-winged blackbirds, bitterns, rails, and swamp spar- 
rows, were among the chief sufferers. Undoubtedly 
large numbers of adult birds died from lack of food, the 
cold, and the pelting of the rain. 
Circulars of inquiry into the damage were sent out to 
many correspondents, and the replies received were very 
interesting. One of the observers, Mr. Bailey, stated that 
the storms June 12 destroyed nearly all the nests of 
vireos, Baltimore orioles, and chipping sparrows within 
a mile of his home ; while Mr. C. A. Reed declared that 
out of 21 nests that he had under observation, only one 
escaped destruction. 
The loss of swallows, martins, and swifts in portions 
of Massachusetts was very great. In some localities the 
chimney swift appears to have been exterminated; while 
in others, the martins were almost all destroyed. From 
one great chimney, or stack, occupied by the swifts as a 
roosting place, three wheelbarrow loads of dead birds 
were removed after the storm of June 21. Mr. J. A. 
Farley reports the extermination of a colony of martins 
that he had established, and other similar cases are men- 
tioned, the birds in many cases being much emaciated, 
and appearing to have starved to death. Many additional 
instances are cited with relation to all our common birds. 
Following this unprecedented summer, came the bitter 
winter. Of the birds which winter in the north, those 
which seemed to have the easiest time were perhaps thfe 
woodpeckers. Many people fed the birds* and so help! 
them through, but that there was a very unusual mortal;! 
due to the intense cold and the heavy snowfall, cam 
be doubted. Mr. Forbush suggests the rearing of bit 
like bluebirds and martins for the purpose of re-establis; 
ing colonies that have been extinguished. He calls attl 
tion also to the desirability of providing winter food a 
shelter for the birds, and points out how this may 
done. Efforts in this direction are well worth makii 
Do Foxes Climb Trees? 
Michigan City. Indiana. — Editor Forest and Streai 
This conundrum is especially intended for your Southe! 
readers, because I have the assurance of a Southern gul 
that they do "down in Alabama." 
I have seen dogs go up the trunk of a leaning tree, a 
Wm. Wells, of Green River, Wyoming, has some phot 
graphs showing dog and mountain lion face to face in t 
branches of a tree. In this case the tree had branch; 
close to the ground, and the dog had scrambled up amos 
them after his game until he found himself twenty f 
or more from the ground. 
I suggested to the above mentioned guide that probr-l 
the foxes he spoke of climbed trees in much the saij 
manner, but he repudiated the necessity of any such ai 
and said the foxes on that flat coast sometimes climb 
straight, limbless trunks. He had seen one in a sni 
pine not more than four inches in diameter, and this 
feet from the ground, and had killed it. Asking how tq 
climbed, net being built for the purpose, he said ti 
hugged the trunk between the fore legs, and digging t 
claws of the hind feet into the bark, scrambled up. 
R. M. and I were with this guide for several days in t 
month of March just past, camping on a nameless ere 
a few miles from the Gulf between Mobile and Pensaco! 
and he seemed to be a man who wished to tell only fas 
He had been "North" once, as far as Lexington, K< 
tucky. Our amusement was fishing for bass, and to i 
surprise we caught both large and small-mouth. T 
guide had assured me that they had small-mouth b;i 
there, but as I had always read that only large-moi 
were found in Southern waters, I had not believed hi 
supposing he referred to some other fish. Besides b; 
we caught "speckled trout," which are not trout at ; 
but weakfish of Northern waters, I am told, and "sni 
pers" distinguished by a couple of tusks in the upf 
jaw, and large sunfish or "brim." 
The guide killed a snake which he called a red-bell 
moccasin, and said it was very poisonous. Can any 
your readers tell me its true name? Could it have be 
a copperhead ? It had a very blunt tail, a copper-color 
belly, and markings on the back something like a ratt 
snake. 
There is one more question I have been intending 
ask Forest and Stream for two or three years — Wl 
was the route exactly of the overland stage coaches fr 
the Platte to Salt Lake in the days immediately prect 
ing the completion of the Union Pacific Railway? 
March, 1868, I went from Omaha to Cheyenne by ri 
and there took a stagecoach for California, where I th 
lived. It was a pretty rough trip, and I have a v( 
vivid recollection of part of it, but I kept no notes 
the names of places. Fort Bridger was on our rou 
and I remember that very well, but I believe there was 
other settlement, except the company's stage statio! 
from Cheyenne to Salt Lake. I remember Rock Sprir 
station, for the Indians drove off some stock there oi 
an hour after we left, as we learned by telegraph at j 
next station. * _ . ,.'•>..:! 
Can any one of your readers refer me to a book whi 
gives a map of the old northern overland stage route, 
can anyone outline by the present counties of Wyomii 
about the route we took? Lexden; 
[Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereo-argentatus) commoj 
climb trees. Frequent instances of this habit have be' 
published in Forest and Stream. 
The old Oregon trail started from Independence, M 
crossed the Kaw, went northwest until it struck i\ 
Platte, not far from Grand Island, followed up ' 
Platte, up the North Fork, up the Sweetwater throu 
South Pass, and then southwest to Fort Bridger. T 
later California trail went southwest from Fort Bridf 
to Salt Lake City, Ogden, westerly to Humboldt Rfv 
to Humboldt Lake, and west across the Sierras, striki 
the Sacramento River about where the American Fc! 
enters it. The modern (1868) stage road from Cheyer 
west, probably followed substantially the surveyed I 
cf the Union Pacific Railroad, through Fort Sand' 
(Laramie City), Rawlins, Green River, and F' 
Bridger.] 
a 
Rate North Carolina Birds. 
During a recent ornithological trip in North Caroli 
Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, well known as the secretary 
the Audubon Society of North Carolina, made some 
teresting observations on water birds. Among otl 
things, he found the American egret and the snowy her 
breeding in limited numbers in the eastern portion of 
State, and had the good fortune to find three water t 
keys (Anhinga anhinga), this being the second record 
their occurrence in North Carolina. Mr. Pearson ma 
the first record for this species in that State six ye 
ago this summer, when he was fortunate enough to sea 
a male bird, which flew from its nest of four eggs irj 
cypress tree on the margin of a lake. 
* A Dog's Grief. 
Boston, Mass. — Editor Forest and Stream: As a c 
tribution to the list of recorded instances of grief — ; 
other emotions — in animals, let me give a single case : 
When I was fourteen years old, our family remo 
from my birthplace in New Hampshire to Illinois. I lj 
no brother, but I had had for years one- faithful and p' 
sionately loved companion — my dog. We had grown 
together and had been well-nigh inseparable. The illd 
of several members of the family and the fact that 
dog, which was quite large, had not been trained to , 
familiarity of railway cars, or even to ride in a carri; 
made it impossible for him to be taken with us. 
I 
