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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



nor nesting materia] to be had on 

 Mother's lap, and certainly wrens are 

 not in the habit of alighting on people's 

 laps- -(certainly not a new pair oi 

 birds just arrived), so what was the 

 motive, if not gratitude? * >f course it 

 was a little misplaced — the wrens 

 simply did not distinguish between 

 Mother and myself, and she got the 

 thanks for what T had done, but it was 

 sweet of the tin}- birdie; and her mate 

 added his quota of thanks by sitting 

 in the porch vine and pouring out a 

 perfect torrent of ecstatic melody. 



lint in the early dawn of the follow- 

 ing morning I heard a great scolding 

 from the sparrow, and defiant but 

 anxious notes from the wrens, and on 

 going out, found the sparrow and his 

 mate had torn the hole oat again and 

 taken possession. This time I put on 

 a wooden doorway ; the undaunted 

 wrens moved in once more, and that 

 settled it. For days the little lady was 

 busily and happily building away. He 

 wanted to help too, and often brought 

 bits of attractive-looking material and 

 offered them, or tried to put them in- 

 side himself, but she always drove 

 him away, and I never saw her accept 

 any of the material he brought. He 

 would hold it for a while, sometimes 

 singing with it still in his bill, and then 

 drop it. She often had a problem to 

 work out, as the twigs she brought 

 were quite long and sometimes 

 branched, and it was hard work to get 

 them ended around and inserted in 

 the small doorway, but she always 

 managed it in the end, though a piece 

 would sometimes fall to the porch floor 

 and she would have to get it and try 

 again. 



When she had been carrying feathers, 

 and the nest was probably nearly done, 

 I was on the porch in the early dusk, 

 and she flew up to the nest and went 

 in, apparently to sleep. He sat on the 

 vine and sang for some time, and then 

 flew up on the little perch and sang 

 through the doorway. She answered 

 him — a soft, sweet twitter, and he sat 

 on the vine and sang a while longer. 

 Then he flew up to the perch and sang 

 to her again, but she was too sleepy to 

 answer, and he flew away; 



Now they are done building, but 

 seem never very far away, lie sits 

 much of the time in the vine, watching 

 and singing while she hops contentedly 

 over the grass. The other day he was 

 singing away on the vine when a lag 

 bumblebee came through under the 

 porch, lie turned his head and looked 

 at the bee, who just at that moment 

 discovered the hat with its inviting 

 doorway. It seemed that the bee was 

 also house hunting, for in it went. The 

 song came to a sudden end, there was a 

 quick flash of a tiny brown body, and a 

 wrathful little wren peered into the 

 nest, while I trembled for the safety 

 of the tiny warrior, as the bee was so 

 big; but in an instant he backed out of 

 the nest, holding the bee firmly in his 

 bill and gave it an angry fling off to 

 one side, whence it flew away with all 

 speed, wdiile the little wren burst torth 

 in triumphant song. 



Interesting Observations of Red- 

 Winged Blackbird. 



Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts. 

 To the Editor : — 



The other day, while strolling across 

 the downs at the northern end of this 

 interesting island, I enjoyed what 

 seemed to me to be a most novel and 

 unusual experience with a red-winged 

 blackbird. On emerging from the shel- 

 ter of a small clump of scrub pine and 

 oak, the red-wing', wdiose presence I 

 had not even suspected, rose with cries 

 of alarm from a patch of green-bay, 

 blackberry, and poison ivy and flew 

 straight towards me. When it was 

 directly above me, at a height of about 

 twenty feet, it remained stationary in 

 a soaring position, only occasionally 

 flanning its wings. 



When I moved, the bird moved, 

 keeping always directly above me ; 

 when I paused, it paused, and so we 

 continued. As soon, however, as I 

 had moved to a certain distance from 

 the clump from which the red-wing 

 had risen, it left its station above me 

 and settled on the topmost branch of 

 a small pine. Though it had left me, 

 it continued its cries of alarm. 



To find out iust what the bird would 

 do, I again drew near to the clump 



