426 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 



ing the sultry noon of the summer's day when most of 

 the feathered songsters seek repose and shelter from the 

 heat. His lively and querulous ditty, is however still 

 accompanied by the slower measured, pathetic chant of 

 the Red-eyed Flycatcher, the meandering, tender war- 

 ble of the Musical Vireo, or the occasional loud mim- 

 icry of the Cat-bird ; the whole forming an aerial, 

 almost celestial concert, which never tires the ear. 

 Though the general performance of our Wren bears 

 no inconsiderable resemblance to that of the Euro- 

 pean species, yet its voice is louder and its execution 

 much more varied and delightful. It is rather a bold 

 and insolent intruder upon those birds, who reside near 

 it, or claim the same accommodation. It frequently 

 causes the mild Blue-bird or the Martin to relinquish 

 their hereditary claims to the garden box, and has been 

 accused also of sucking their eggs. Nor is he any bet- 

 ter contented with neighbours of his own fraternity who 

 settle near him, keeping up frequent squabbles, like 

 other little busy bodies, who are never happy but in mis- 

 chief; so that upon the whole, though we may justly ad- 

 mire the fine talents of this petulant domestic, he is, 

 like many other actors, merely a good performer. He 

 is still upon the whole a real friend to the farmer and 

 horticulturist, by the number of injurious insects and 

 their destructive larvae on which both him and his numer- 

 ous family subsist. Bold and fearless, seeking out every 

 advantageous association, and making up in activity 

 what he may lack in strength, he does not confine his 

 visits to the cottage or the country, but may often be 

 heard on the tops of houses, even in the midst of the city, 

 warbling with his usual energy. 



