. Bird lore . sin more brilliant feather.—Angie ClaraChapin. Wren and Sparrow Four years ago I nailed an oil-can underthe gable end of a small building near thehouse, the bottom of the can flat againstthe building. The can was the sort witha cork-fitted opening, with handle thatserved as a door-step for the Wrens thattook up housekeeping in it. I have no wayof knowing that the same Wrens have (76) Notes from Field and Study 77 ■occupied it every year, but think they have,ior I do not think any others would occupyan old nest. However, I am not sure onthat point. Fom the first, it has been an ob
. Bird lore . sin more brilliant feather.—Angie ClaraChapin. Wren and Sparrow Four years ago I nailed an oil-can underthe gable end of a small building near thehouse, the bottom of the can flat againstthe building. The can was the sort witha cork-fitted opening, with handle thatserved as a door-step for the Wrens thattook up housekeeping in it. I have no wayof knowing that the same Wrens have (76) Notes from Field and Study 77 ■occupied it every year, but think they have,ior I do not think any others would occupyan old nest. However, I am not sure onthat point. Fom the first, it has been an object ofenvy to the English Sparrows. The open-ing in the can being too small for theirentrance, they collect on top and try tooppose the Wrens going in and out. Withcheerfulness of song and manner, theWrens succeeded in raising two broodseach summer. One day the Sparrow opposed the maleWren from going in to feed the youngbirds, when it put up a fight, or a show , and dropped its food; that which fin). I found in the grass was part of a grass-hopper. But the Wren sang a song ofdefiance from the sweet-pea trellis. With my watch in hand, I timed theWren in his songs. He sang ten to aminute; that would be six hundred songsin an hour, if he kept it up. Allowingfourteen hours out of the twenty-four forsleep and family duties, there are at leastten hours devoted to vocal exercise. One evening, at dusk, I heard a sleepylittle song coming from the can, a lullabyto the young birds, or a serenade to JennyWren.—E. I. Metcalf,Minn. A Common-sense Bird-box PLANS FORAPIRD-BOfc. IGN FOR A COMMON-SENSEBIRD BOX The chief merit of the nesting-siteshown in these cuts lies in the fact thatit is not a human invention; it is simply acopy from nature. By the way, is it not alittle surprising that, with so many inven-tions of elaborate houses (properly socalled) for Martins, Swallows and Wrens,no one seems to have offered, as yet, newplans and specifications for sites forOrioles and Humming
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