The hollows of decaying trees, crevices in rocks, or the centre of meshes of interlacing vines, are their natural resorts. These they readily relinquish for the facilities offered in the society of man. They are bold, sociable, confiding birds, and will enter into the closest relations with those who cultivate their acquaintance, building their nests from preference under the eaves of houses, in corners of the wood-shed, a clothes-line box, olive-jars, martin-boxes, open gourds, an old hat, the skull of an ox placed on a pole, the pocket of a carriage, or even the sleeve of an old coat left hanging in an out-building. In the spring of 1855 a pair of these Wrens nested within the house, and over the door of the room of the late Robert Kennicott, where they raised their broods in safety. They built a second nest on a shelf in the same room, which they entered through a knot-hole in the unceiled wall. At first shy, they soon became quite tame, and did not regard the presence of members of the family. The male bird was more shy than his mate, and though equally industrious in collecting insects would rarely bring them nearer than the knot-hole, where the female would receive them. The female with her brood was destroyed by a cat, but this did not deter the male bird from appearing the following season with another mate and building their nest in the same place. Another instance of a singular selection of a breeding-place has been given by the same authority. Dr. Kennicott, the father of Robert, a country physician, drove an old two-wheeled open gig, in the back of which was a box, a foot in length by three inches in width, open at the top. In this a pair of Wrens insisted, time after time,
in building their nest. Though removed each time the vehicle was used, the pair for a long while persisted in their attempts to make use of this place, at last even depositing their eggs on the bare bottom of the box. It was two or three weeks before they finally desisted from their vain attempts.
Sometimes this bird will build a nest in a large cavity, holding perhaps a bushel. Before the cup of the nest is completed, the birds will generally endeavor to fill the entire space with sticks and various other convenient substances. Where the entrance is unnecessarily large they will generally contract it by building about it a barricade of sticks, leaving only a small entrance. In the midst of these masses of material they construct a compact, cup-shaped, inner nest, hemispherical in shape, composed of finer materials and warmly lined with the fur of small quadrupeds, and with soft feathers. If the eggs are taken as the female is depositing them, she will continue to lay quite a long while. In one instance eighteen were taken, after which the birds were let alone and raised a brood of seven.
During the months of May and June the male is a constant and remarkable singer. His song is loud, clear, and shrill, given with great animation and rapidity, the performer evincing great jealousy of any interruption, often leaving off abruptly in the midst of his song to literally “pitch in” upon any rival who may presume to compete with him.
If a cat or any unwelcome visitor approach the nest, angry vociferations succeed to his sprightly song, and he will swoop in rapid flights across the head or back of the intruder, even at the apparent risk of his life.
Where several pairs occupy the same garden, their contests are frequent, noisy, and generally quite amusing. In their fights with other birds for the possession of a coveted hollow, their skill at barricading frequently enables the Wrens to keep triumphant possession against birds much more powerful than themselves.
Their food is exclusively insectivorous, and of a class of destructive insects that render them great benefactors to the farmer. Mr. Kennicott ascertained that a single pair of Wrens carried to their young about a thousand insects in a single day.
The young, when they leave their nest, keep together for some time, moving about, an interesting, sociable, and active group, under the charge of their mother, but industrious in supplying their own wants.
The eggs of the Wren, usually from seven to nine in number, are of a rounded-oval shape, at times nearly as broad as long. Their ground-color is white, but they are so thickly studded with markings and fine spots of reddish-brown, with a few occasional points of purplish-slate, as to conceal their ground. Their shape varies from nearly spherical to an oblong-oval, some measuring .60 by .55 of an inch, others with the same breadth having a length of .67 of an inch.
Under the name of Troglodytes americanus, or Wood Wren, Mr. Audubon figured and described as a distinct species what is probably only a somewhat