. The oist . on tothink the birds had nested before thatdate. The eggs in a set vary from four tosix in number, but most commonly fiveare laid. The ground color is a delicatemilky white, rather sparingly markedwith dots of pale reddish brown. Theyvary in shape from rounded to elong-ate ovate, and always impress me asbeing very large for such a small bird,averaging in measurement .65 x .49inches. These wrens are most often indus-trious builders cf decoy nests. Onepair cf birds will generally stake outa claim covering about one hundredyards of territory, making im-provements here and there in th
. The oist . on tothink the birds had nested before thatdate. The eggs in a set vary from four tosix in number, but most commonly fiveare laid. The ground color is a delicatemilky white, rather sparingly markedwith dots of pale reddish brown. Theyvary in shape from rounded to elong-ate ovate, and always impress me asbeing very large for such a small bird,averaging in measurement .65 x .49inches. These wrens are most often indus-trious builders cf decoy nests. Onepair cf birds will generally stake outa claim covering about one hundredyards of territory, making im-provements here and there in theshape of false nests, often to the num-ber cf six or eight These decoysare almost always built entirely ofmoss, and in this way they may be dis-tinguished from the real nest whichhas a liberal facing cf dead ;ould the frst set of eggs be taken,a seccnd set is often laid in one ofthese decoys, which is about theonly use I have ever seen for them. Iwill not say the only use, because 70 THE OOLOaiSl. 1. Isaac E. Hess, Philo, Ills. Climbing for Red Ta I Hawks Eggs, April, 1307 THE OOLOGIST, 71 when an intruder comes into theirterritory, both wrens will hop aroundthese false nests scolding at a tremen-dous rate. The male bird nearly always singsnear the sitting female, as is charac-teristic of most wrens, but in spite ofthis a search for the nest is a gooddeal like the proverbial hunting for aneedle in a haystack. On only one oc-casion have I been able to see the fe-male on the nest, for she usuallyleaves at the first approach of danger,and is seldom to be noticed in the vi-cinity while the intruder is present. Of all the birds in my acquaintance,these are the most particular as tohow their nest is examined. Shoulda finger be introduced ever so care-fully, for the purpose of ascertainingthe contents they will invaribly desertif the full set is not laid This is amost distressing habit to the collector,as the nest cavity is always from twoto three inches deep, and its content
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidoist26al, booksubjectbirds
