38 THE WOOD-WREN 



warblers wasted a deal of their time in trying to 

 lure him away from their young. 



Just as the larks on the upland pastures have 

 each a sacred place, sometimes little more than 

 a square yard, with a stone or mound marking 

 the boundary beyond which no neighbour may 

 venture unchallenged, so each pair of willow- 

 wrens, nesting along the island front, held rights 

 over a special plot, and defied all other warblers 

 that dared to encroach. Yet, in spite of the 

 pugnacity of their diminutive cousins, the wood- 

 wrens, while following the disturber of their 

 sanctuary, trespassed unhesitatingly on many 

 a little preserve, and sometimes ran the gauntlet 

 of a fierce and unrehearsed attack. 



As, deeply interested in the least important 

 detail, the naturalist noted carefully their every 

 movement, he found it hard to decide whether 

 the wood-wrens or the willow-wrens were the 

 most fairy-like of the tiny songsters inhabiting 

 the island retreat. While the song of the wood- 

 warbler was a loud trill, often repeated, the carol 

 of the smaller bird was a varied, wistful strain of 

 minor music that sometimes suddenly changed 

 into a low refrain, so deceptive of direction and 

 distance as seemingly to be uttered by a wood- 

 land singer far away. This peculiar, ventrilo- 

 quial change was most noticeable when, towards 

 evening, the willow-wren left his brood to 



