Curious Nesting Sites of Western House Wren
Curious Nesting Sites of Western House Wren
The little brown house wren or Parkman wren (Troglodytes aedon parkmani) seems to be showing some preference for steel in this locality. In June, 1904, a pair built their nest in a section of stove pipe eight feet long placed on rafters of a chicken house, the end of which was latticed. The nest was eight feet from the ground. One end of the pipe was filled up with small twigs, and at the other end was the nest proper. It looked as if instinct has taught them to fill up one end of the pipe to keep out weazels and rodents. When examined the nest contained six fully fledged young, as George Luce informed me. Another nest was placed on a foundation of ten-penny nails in a grain sack, which had been hung up on the side of a ranch house within five feet of the ground in plain view of anyone passing. I saw the mite of brown feathers flit out of a wee hole in the sack, and on looking into it found a nest of the usual wren character. A few twigs had been placed on the nails and well lined with birds’ feathers, but no snake skin. Another queer situation for a wren’s nest was found in a pocket of au old velvet smoking coat hanging over the rafters of a deserted preempter's cabin. From the appearance of the coat it had been used for several nests.
W. OTTO EMERSON
Haywards, Cal
