156 
The House Wren 
Then this one came out and flew away. Next day neither appeared, and 
I found the eggs pierced, each with a single thrust. 
The third nest that the old-farm wrens built was inside the north 
window-blind of the best room of the farmhouse, a window seldom opened 
between spring and fall house-cleaning. As it was then the first week in 
August, the situation, sheltered alike from sun and thunder-showers, was 
evidently appreciated. This third brood, to the number of five, prospered. 
It can be easily seen by those who wish to have wrens about their 
places that house-room must be provided, as the English Sparrow is 
likely to take to himself many of the old haunts. However, the box with 
the one-inch opening is as yet a problem to the sparrow, 
^nt^dersf ° r ^ rec * S( l u i rrel > though the latter can and will 
enlarge the hole unless it be edged with tin. Make 
your houses of the right size — not one or two only, but a dozen. Think 
out the location and see that they are at least partly protected from sun. 
Do not put the houses too close together, for Madam Wren is a bad 
neighbor, and her temper is as quick as her flight. 
At the end of the season clear the old nests from the house. A wren 
can carry and lay unbelievably long twigs, but to undo the work is too 
great a trial of her patience. Last year a series of a dozen of my wren- 
boxes remained unoccupied because they had not been emptied. 
Under proper auspices the House Wren is increasing, and if it is not 
doing this in your neighborhood may it not be your own fault? Once 
established in a locality, a wren clings to it. This year, other space failing, 
a pair have made a strange nest in a house-maid’s pail that was hung, 
bottom upwards, to air on a stake behind a trellis where they had once 
nested. The pail had a slightly incurved edge, and between this and the 
supporting stake the birds built a narrow platform up toward the bottom 
of the pail, which acted as a roof. The structure was made of sticks 
that it seemed impossible that so small a bird could 
lift, much less turn endwise and carry through the 
round meshes of the trellis. The nest when finished 
was of the shape of that of the Eave Swallow, the supporting stake hold- 
ing it against the side of the pail. 
“What shall we do ?” I said to the maid, on being shown the nest, which 
was well outlined between the morning and the evening of the first day. 
“My, but the work of them !” was her admiring reply. “Leave them have 
it; I can do with something else, for it’s a sin to discourage that much 
pluck when it trusts you for the lend of the pail.” 
More of this spirit will mean many more wrens about our houses. 
A Nest in 
a Pail 
Classification and Distribution 
The House Wren belongs to the Order Passeres and Family Troglodytidce. 
Its scientific name is Troglodytes aedon. It is to be found in summer throughout 
temperate North America, and in winter in Mexico. The House Wrens west oi 
the Plains are regarded as a western subspecies ( T.a . parkmani) , sometimes called 
Parkman’s Wren. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
