132 
HOUSE WREN. 
begins to build its nest, sometimes in the wooden cornice 
under the eaves, or in a hollow cherry tree ; but most com- 
monly in small boxes, fixed on the top of a pole, in or near 
the garden, to which he is extremely partial, for the great 
number of caterpillars and other larvae with which it constantly 
supplies him. If all these conveniences are wanting, he will 
even put up with an old hat, nailed on the weather boards, 
with a small hole for entrance ; and, if even this be denied 
him, he will find some hole, corner, or crevice about the house, 
barn, or stable, rather than abandon the dwellings of man. 
In the month of June, a mower hung up his coat, under a 
shed, near a barn ; two or three days elapsed before he had 
occasion to put it on again ; thrusting his arm up the sleeve, 
he found it completely filled with some rubbish, as he expressed 
it, and, on extracting the whole mass, found it to be the nest 
of a wren completely finished, and lined with a large quantity 
of feathers. In his retreat, he was followed by the little forlorn 
proprietors, who scolded him with great vehemence, for thus 
ruining the whole economy of their household affairs. The 
twigs with which the outward parts of the nest are constructed 
are short and crooked, that they may the better hook in with 
one another, and the hole or entrance is so much shut up, to 
prevent the intrusion of snakes, or cats, that it appears almost 
impossible the body of the bird could be admitted; within 
this, is a layer of fine dried stalks of grass, and lastly feathers. 
purplish flesh colour, innumerable fine grains of that tint being 
thickly sprinkled over the whole egg. They generally raise 
two broods in a season ; the first about the beginning of June, 
the second in July.* 
1 
* The Wrens figured on this plate, and indeed all those of this northern 
continent, seem to be great favourites with the country people, to which 
distinction, their utility in gardens in destroying caterpillars and noxious 
insects, their sprightly social manner, with their clean and neat appearance, 
fully entitle them. They form the genus Troglodytes of moderns, are limited 
in numbers, but distributed over Europe, America, and Africa ; their habits are 
