THE HOUSE WREN 
TF YOU want some jolly little neighbours for 
the summer, invite the wrens to live near you 
year after year by putting up small, one-family 
box-houses under the eaves of the barn, the 
cow-shed, or the chicken-house, on the grape 
arbour or in the orchard. Beware of a pair of 
nesting wrens in a box nailed against a piazza 
post: they beat any alarm clock for arousing 
the family at sunrise. 
Save the starch boxes, cover them with 
strips of bark, or give them two coats of paint 
to match the building they are to be nailed on. 
Cut a hole that you have marked on one end of 
each box by drawing a lead pencil around a 
silver quarter of a dollar. A larger hole would 
mean that English sparrows, who push them- 
selves everywhere where not invited, would 
probably take possession of each house as fast 
as you nailed it up. Of course the little one- 
roomed cottages should have a number of small 
holes bored on the sides near the top to give the 
wrens plenty of fresh air. Have the boxes in 
place not later than the first of April — then 
watch. Would it not be a pity for any would-be 
tenants to pass by your home because they could 
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