THE HOUSE WREN. 



All the children, it seems to 

 me, are familiar with the habits 

 of Johnny and Jenny Wren ; 

 and many of them, especially 

 such as have had some experi- 

 ence with country life, could 

 themselves tell a story of these 

 mites of birds. Mr. F. Saunders 

 tells one: "Perhaps you may 

 think the AYren is so small a 

 bird he cannot sing much of a 

 song, but he can. The way we 

 first began to notice him was by 

 seeing our pet cat jumping about 

 the yard, dodging first one way 

 and then another, then darting 

 up a tree; looking surprised, 

 and disappointingly jumping 

 down again. 



"Pussy had found a new play- 

 mate, foi- the little Wren evi- 

 dently thought it great fun to 

 fly down just in front of her and 

 dart away before she could 

 reach him, leading her from one 

 spot to another, hovering above 

 her head, chattering to her all 

 the time, and at last flying up 

 far out of her reach. This he 

 repeated day after day, for some 

 time, seeming to enjoy the fun 

 of disappointing her so nicely 

 and easily. But after a while 

 the little fellow thought he 

 would like a play-mate nearer 

 his own size, and went off to 

 find one. But he came back all 



alone, and perched himself on 

 the very tip-top of a lightning- 

 rod on a high barn at the back 

 of the yard; and there he would 

 sing his sweet little trilling 

 song, hour after hour, hardly 

 stopping long enough to find 

 food for his meals. We won- 

 dered that he did not grow tired 

 of it. For about a week we 

 watched him closely, and one 

 day I came running into the 

 house to tell the rest of the 

 family with surprise and delight 

 that our little Wren knew what 

 he was about, for with his win- 

 ning song he had called a mate 

 to him. He led her to the tree 

 where he had played with pussy, 

 and they began building a nest; 

 but pussy watched then as well 

 as we, and meant to have her 

 revenge upon him yet, so she 

 sprang into the tree, tore the 

 nest to pieces, and tried to catch 

 Jenny. The birds rebuilt their 

 nest three times, and finally we 

 came to their rescue and placed 

 a box in a safe place under the 

 eves of the hous^, and Mr. 

 Wren with his keen, shrewd 

 eyes, soon saw and appropriated 

 it. There they stayed and raised 

 a pretty family of birdies; and 

 I hope he taught them, as he 

 did me, a lesson in perseverence 

 I'll never forget." 



98 



