WRENS THE BEST INSECT DESTROYERS. 



]67 



allv prevent that, besides be of good ser- 

 vice in affording nutriment. 



Here I might lay aside my pen, but for 

 a paper by Mr. Leuchars, of New-Haven, 

 Ct., in the last number of the Horticulturist, 

 which leads n.e to fear an expression in 

 my first paragraph may be misunderstood. 

 By American gardeners, I mean all who 

 garden in this country — natives or foreign- 

 ers, barring a few " honorable exceptions." 

 Mr. L. considers all foreign gardeners, in 

 this country, as characterized by " quacks, 

 impositions, shows," and a host of similar 

 derogatory adjectives ; but " plenty of good 

 gardeners might be had by sending for 

 them." As an Englishman, I have had 

 some experience in British gardeners at 



home and abroad, and am sorry that I can- 

 not confirm his statements. First rate gar- 

 deners are the exception, and not the rule 

 there, as well as here ; in American gar- 

 deners as well as English ones ; and in 

 other professions as well, as gardening, 

 must the same exception in the perfection 

 of knowledge be made. Mr. L.'s remarks 

 are otherwise judicious and well timed. It 

 is only in justice to several very excellent 

 British gardeners that I know in this coun- 

 try, and whose chances of obtaining situa- 

 tions suitable to their abilities might be 

 injured by such a sweeping statement, that 

 I had thought it a duty to suggest to Mr. 

 L. this explanation. Thos. Meehan. 



Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Aug. 15, 1649. 



■WRENS THE BEST INSECT DESTROYERS. 



BY J. J S., PHILADELPHIA. 



The charming little songster, the house 

 wren, as he is called, (Troglodytes Aedon, 

 Vieill,) is well known to build his nest 

 wherever a suitable hole in a tree or the 

 house presents itself; and both Wilson 

 and Audubon speak of an old hat, with a 

 hole in it, as a not uncommon resort. 

 The former author relates, that in the 

 month of June a mower hung up his coat 

 under a shed, near the barn ; two or three 

 days elapsed before he had occasion to put 

 it on again. Thrusting his arm up the 

 sleeve, he found it completely filled with 

 some rubbish, as he expressed it ; and, on 

 extracting the whole mass, found it to be 

 the nest of a wren, completely finished, 

 and lined with a large quantity of feathers. 

 In his retreat he was followed by the little 

 forlorn proprietors, who scolded him with 

 great vehemence for thus ruining the whole 

 economy of their household affairs. Wil- 



son continues : — M Scarce a house or cot- 

 tage in the country is without at least a 

 pair of them, and sometimes two ; but un- 

 less there is a large garden, orchard, and 

 numerous outhouses, it is not often the case 

 that more than one pair reside near the 

 same spot, owing to their party disputes 

 and jealousies." 



Either the bird has very much multiplied 

 among us, which is no doubt the fact, or 

 an accidental ivien box, of which I send 

 you a drawing, has been found by the 

 wren so secure and dry, that, in a space of 

 less than twenty-five acres at Laurel Hill 

 Cemetery, near Philadelphia, I am pro- 

 bably safe in saying there have been this 

 year more than fifty pair, rearing two 

 broods each. 



The drawing represents the ornamental 

 posts of the iron railing enclosures of very 

 many lots, a is the top, larger than b, the 



