XLVII 



SALLY THE HOUSE WREN 



IN England there is a little brown bird known as the 

 Jenny Wren, which has a "stickup" tail and carries 

 itself in a pert, attractive, and characteristic way. We 

 have a number of wrens in America, all of them about the 

 shape of the Jenny Wren, some of them larger and some 

 smaller, but none of them large birds. In most of our 

 States we may find the long-billed marsh wren among the 

 rushes bordering ponds, lakes and streams. This bird is 

 shy, and a person has to be keen to see it. It nests among 

 the reeds and feeds on insects and worms. Its color is cin- 

 namon brown with a whitish streak down the back. It is 

 recognized as a wren by its "stick-up" tail. The short- 

 billed marsh wren also lives in swamps, but it may be 

 easily identified by the lack of a long bill and by the upper 

 parts being streaked all over. 



The most common wren found over the northern part 

 of the United States and the one most widely known is 

 the house wren. I suppose because our forefathers had 

 always known the Jenny Wren at home, and noted the 

 similarity of these tame little songsters to it, they called 

 them jenny wrens. Even now most people do not know 

 we have no jenny wrens. This bird is a delightful song- 

 ster and very tame. It almost always nests about our 

 houses, and if there is a knot hole in the weather-board- 

 ing it is quite sure to build in the house. 



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