168 



WRENS THE BEST INSECT DESTROYERS. 



Fig. 79. 



vase, which it completely shelters ; but be- 

 tween the two is a space, serving for the 

 entrance of the wren, invisible to the spec- 

 tator without stooping, and only large 

 enough to admit two fingers in breadth, 

 c is the post, to which the whole is attached 

 by a screw at the apox, d. It is usually 

 not more than three or four feet high ; and 

 as the visitor passes, he is surprised to hear 

 the chirp of the youngsters, and to see the 

 parents every few minutes perch on the 

 railing, and disappear under the top of the 

 vase, a. This is an ornamental wren box 

 that would be very pretty in a lawn ; 

 and Mr. Wood, the great railing manu- 

 facturer on the Ridge Road, Philadel- 

 phia, will supply them in any desired 

 number. 



It has been said by a friend* to this lit- 

 tle bird, that " the esculent vegetables of a 

 whole garden may, perhaps, be preserved 

 from the depredations of different species 

 of insects, by ten or fifteen pair of these 

 small birds." There can be no doubt of 

 their utility, as well as ornament to a gar- 

 den ; and I believe by providing suitable 

 accommodations, we may now have them. 

 However scarce they may have been in the 

 time of Wilson, they have increased with 

 our population, whose neighborhood they 

 evidently court, for the insects which gar- 

 dens produce in such abundance. 



I should be glad to see some good con- 

 tributor to the Horticulturist, whose fond- 

 ness for natural objects, leads him to ob- 

 serve the habits of birds. Loudon's Gar- 

 deners' Magazine was often highly inte- 

 resting in this particular. Something new 

 to many readers might occasionally be 

 gleaned from Wilson's most agreeable but 

 expensive pages. As a beginning, I copy 

 his sweet lines on the Blue Bird, for inser- 

 tion : 



* Barton'i Fragment*. 



