OUR HOME BIRDS. 
81 
few seconds with great animation, are extremely 
agreeable. Its food is composed of insects and 
caterpillars, and while supplying the wants of its 
young it destroys, on a moderate calculation, many 
hundreds a day, and greatly circumscribes the rav- 
ages of these vermin.’ 
“ Wrens build large nests for such small birds, 
and each nest will contain from twelve to sixteen 
eggs. They have a curious habit of building a 
great many nests which are never occupied, and of 
beginning to build others which are left unfinished. 
The twigs which form the outside of a wren’s nest 
are short and crooked, that they may hook into 
each other readily ; and the entrance-hole is so much 
shut up, to keep out snakes and cats, that it seems 
almost impossible for the little bird itself to get in. 
Inside of the nest there is usually a layer of fine 
dried stalks of grass, and over this one of feathers. 
“The places in which these nests are found are 
often the funniest that can well be imagined. Wrens 
seem to be quite partial to the small boxes fixed on a 
pole that are often set up for them in the garden, be- 
cause they are near the caterpillars and other food in 
which they delight. If they do not find these, how- 
ever, they will go to housekeeping in an old hat 
nailed on the weather-boards, with a small hole for 
entrance; and if this convenience is not to be had, 
F 
