16 INTRODUCTION. 



constantly constructed of native materials, the principal of which is 

 a kind of tough grass. The blades are formed into a sort of platted 

 purse, but little inferior to a coarse straw bonnet; the artificial labor 

 bestowed is so apparent, that Wilson humorously adds, that on liis 

 showing it to a matron of his acquaintance, betwixt joke and earnest, 

 she asked, ^- if he thought it could not be tavight to darn stockings." 

 Every one has heard of the tailor bird of India (Sylvia sutoria) -j^' 

 tliis little architect, by way of saving labor, and gaining security for 

 its tiny frabric, actually, as a seamstress, sows together the edges of 

 two leaves of a tree, in which her nest, at the extremity of the 

 branch, is then secured for the period of incubation. Among the 

 Sylvias or Warblers, in which are included the Nightingale, and 

 familiar Robin Redbreast, there is a species inhabiting Florida and 

 tlie West Indies, the Sylvia pensilis, which forms its woven, covered 

 nest to rock in the air at the end of two suspending strings, rather than 

 trust it to the wily enemies by which it is surrounded } the entrance, 

 for security, is also from below, and through a winding vestibule. 



Our little cheerful, and almost domestic Wren (Troglodytes 

 fulviis), which so often disputes Avith the Martin and the Blue- 

 bird the possession of the box, set up for their accommodation in 

 the garden or near the house, in his native resort of a hollow tree, 

 or the shed of some neglected out-house, begins his fabric by form- 

 ino- a barricade of crooked interlacing twigs, a kind of chevaux-de- 

 frise, for the defence of his internal habitation, leaving merely 

 a very small entrance at the upper edge ; and so pertinacious is the 

 instinct of this little petulant and courageous warbler, that, v/ithout 

 perceiving the inutility of his industry, in the artificial mansion pre- 

 pared for him, he still laboriously encumbers the interior of the box 

 with the same mass of rude sticks. The industry of this little bird, and 

 his affection for his mate, ai-e somewhat remarkable, as he frequently 

 completes his habitation without aid, and then searches out a female on 

 whom to bestow it; but not being always successful, or the premises 

 not satisfactory to his mistress, his labor remains without reward, and 

 he continues to warble out his lay in solitude. The same gallant habit 

 prevails also with our recluse Wren of the marshes. Wilson's 

 Marsh Wren (Troglodytes pahistris), instead of courting the advan- 

 tages of a proximity to our dwellings, lives wholly among the reed 

 fens, suspending his mud-plastered and circularly covered nest 

 usually to the stalks of the plant he so much aflfects. Another 

 marsh species inhabits the low and swampy meadows of our vicinity, 



* For the curious nest of this bird, see the vignette on page 30. 



