3o6 THE SEATTLE WREN. 



Xor w;is it at all amiss for Professor Ridgway, the eminent ornithologist 

 of Washingttin, D. C, to name this bird in honor of the Queen City, for it is 

 in the immediate en\-irons of the city, as well as in the untidy wastes of half- 

 con(juered nature, tliat the local Bewick \\'ren fnids a congenial Imme. 

 Logged-oft tracts, slashings and burned-over areas are, howe\'er, its especial 

 delight, and if the bird-man catclies sight of one that has been making the 

 rounds of all the fire-l)lackened stumps in the neighbi>rhoiid. he is ready to de- 

 clare a new sub-species on the strength of the bird's soiled garments. Xo 

 junk-dealer knows the alleys of the metropolis lietter than this craft}' bird 

 knows the b\'wavs of his log-heaps and the intricate mazes of fire-weed and 

 fern. If there is an\' vuiusual appearance or noise which gives promise of mis- 

 chief afoot, the Seattle W'ren is the first to respond. Flitting, gliding, titter- 

 ing, the bir<l comes up and moves about the center of commotion, taking dIj- 

 ser\'ations from all possible angles anil making a running commentar_\' tliereon. 

 His attitude is alert and his movements \'ivacious, but the chief interest at- 

 taches to the bird's mobile tail, ^\'ith this expressi\e member the bird is aljle 

 to converse in a vigorous sign language. It is cocked up in impudence, wagged 

 in defiance, set aslant in coquetry, or depressed in whimsical token of humility. 

 Indeed, it is hardly too nuich to say that tlie bird makes faces with its tail. 



While spying along the lower levels the Wren giggles and chuckles and 

 titters, or else gives \'ent to a grating cry, luoozccrp. which sets the woods on 

 edge. But in song the bird oftenest chooses an elewited station, an alder 

 sajjling or the top of a stump. Here, at short intervals and in most energetic 

 fashion, he delivers extended phrases of varied notes, now clear and sparkling, 

 now sliu"red or jiedalled. Abo\-e all, he is master of a set of smart trills. One 

 of them, after three preliminary notes, runs isu' tsii' fsii' tsii' fsii' fsu' , like an 

 exaggerated and beautified song of the T(^whee. Another scing, which from 

 its rollicking character deser\'es to be called a drinking song, terminates with 

 a brilliant trill in descending scale, rallcntando ct iliiiiiinicinlo. as tho the little 

 minstrel were actually draining a beaker of dew. 



The Seattle Wren is altogether a hilarious iiersonage : and in a countr_\- 

 where most song birds are overawed by the solemnity of the forest, it is well 

 enough to have one cheerv wight to set all canons at defiance. E\'en the gray- 

 bearded old fir-stubs must laugh at a time over some of the sallies of this rest- 

 less little zany. The ^^'ren does not indulge in conscious mimicry, but since 

 his art is self-taught, he is occasionally indelited to the companions of the 

 woods for a theme. The Towbee motif is not uncommon in liis songs, and the 

 supposed notes of a Willi iw Gdldfinch, a little off color, were traced to Iiis 

 door, at Blaine. 



Of the nesting ]\Ir. Bowles savs : "The building sites chosen by this 

 wren for its nests are so variable that hardly anything can be considered typi- 

 cal. It mav be in the wildest swampv wood far removed from civilization, but 



