Rainy Weather and Wrens 



Following his usual methods he had 

 filled the boot chock-full of clean, dry 

 grass, lined with soft white feathers; and 

 as the top of it pointed downward a trifle, 

 he and his family were just as well sheltered 

 in it from the rain as in the holes in trees 

 and boxes to which they ordinarily resort. 



The House Wren is so small (his actual 

 length of body not much exceeding two 

 inches, as a rule, exclusive of beak and tail) 

 that one of the most remarkable things 

 about him is the amount of noise he 

 makes — and this, too, notwithstanding the 

 fact he seems to have an impediment in his 

 speech. 



He sings incessantly, his strain always 

 starting with an amount of splutter and 

 stammering that seems to give him a whole 

 lot of trouble, before he finally breaks 

 through into the whirling little cadenza of 

 true melody with which he brings it to a 

 close. 



His back and head are brown and his 

 breast is of dull gray; but the marks by 

 which he may be most easily identified 



[75] 



