conspicuously a morning and evening song. The bluebird soon settles down into 

 quiet watchfulness ; his heavenly blue still pleases the eye, but the ear listens in vain 

 for the accompanying flute-notes. A brief period of courtship occurs between 

 the flying of the first brood and the completion of the second set of eggs. In 

 this short interval the welcome song is again heard, but it soon gives way to the 

 serious duties of life. The wren, on the contrary, is a good lover. He is never 

 too serious to sing. He is a veritable Mark Tapley; the cares of life only serve 

 to increase his good nature. As long as there is an egg unhatched or a young- 

 ster to be fed, he cheers his mate and his neighbors with his song. 



Ever on the alert, he gives timely warning of the approach of their arch- 

 enemy the cat, and vigorously resents the close approach of their human friends 

 by a rapid clicking or chattering note that amounts almost to a hiss. 



He reminds one of Sir William Jones's lines : 

 • "What constitutes a state ? 

 Men who their duties know, 

 But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain." 



The wrens are models of industry. Two to three broods a year with from 

 five to eight youngsters in a brood leave no chance for race suicide. With so 

 many little ones to care for they need more than an eight-hour day. The wren 

 begins his song and his search for insects by half-past four in the morning and 

 keeps up both as long as he can see. He and Mrs. Wren are said to make as 

 many as three hundred visits to the nest per day. This is probably when the 

 young are about ready to leave the nest. 



The wrens hunt on and near the ground, under and among plants and 

 bushes. They run along the ground like a streak and in the dusk are easily 

 mistaken for mice. 



The gardener can afford to be friendly to these little brown mites, for 'their 

 hundreds of visits each day to the bean patch and lettuce bed mean the destruc- 

 tion of great numbers of caterpillars and full grown insects that would live on 

 the vegetables if they were given a chance. 



Almost anyone may have the pleasure of the company of a pair of wrens 

 if he will extend the proper invitation. Nor is the invitation a difficult one to 

 extend. Any box with a small hole in it, if placed in a tree, on a pole, or among 

 vines where he can easily find it, will prove attractive. The doorway should be 

 only a little larger than a silver quarter, say one and one-eighth inches, and 

 should be about three or four inches above the bottom of the box. If the door- 

 way is much larger than a quarter, the bluebird, tree swallow or English spar- 

 row is likely to appropriate the box. An old wooden shoe, a boot, a tomato can, 

 an olive bottle, a coat pocket, a gourd with a hole in it, a knothole in the side 

 of a house, are among the forms of imitation that have proved acceptable to 

 the wrens. 



There seems to be a t'aniiK tend between the wrens and l)lucl)irds. If. 



79 



