House TlVen. 5d 



maple tree near my study window. I have said it was a 

 fortunate summer, but I might with more propriety say 

 that I was fortunate, for my willing ears were regaled, 

 early and late, with the ringing roundelays of the happy 

 householders. The regularity of the merry measures soon 

 taught me to miss them if the interludes were prolonged 

 by some capricious movements of the songsters that kept 

 them from their favorite stations. The voice of the male 

 was extraordinarily clear and vibrant, and his regular 

 practicing, added to the increasing delights of his matri- 

 monial life, daily gave more finish to his execution and 

 power of song. At the threshold of his feather-lined 

 home be regularly chanted a delightful measure before be 

 disappeared through the tiny entrance. Scarcely had he 

 whirred from its portal upon his departure ere he rang bis 

 tuneful round. If ever a tree of that dimension became 

 vocal with the performances of its feathered tenants, that 

 old maple was given over to the spirit of song, the restless 

 musician being indeed the fairy which gave animation to 

 the sturdy form until it seemed to whisper words of in- 

 spiration to passers-by. Like the wood pewee, the indigo 

 bunting, the chipping sparrow, and others of the birds 

 that protract the nesting season, the house wren becomes 

 more melodious as its embryonic brood develops and 

 thrives, and its loving service in behalf of its family is 

 accompanied by more powerful and expressive measures of 

 unalloyed happiness. 



When the young wrens have been taught the practical 

 art of insect-catching, they resort to the woods and hedges, 

 frequenting high weeds, bushes along streams, and thick- 

 ets of any sort. Walking along a hedge with dense foliage, 

 late in summer or early in autumn, one may remark the 

 wrens whisking silently in and out, and diving suddenly 

 into the weeds and bushes. If the adults are not rearing 

 additional broods, they also can be found, in company with 

 their offspring, scolding, with characteristic captiousness, 

 at the disturbers of their privacy and woodland foraging. 

 Their merry rounds of melody are over for the summer, 

 and in this manner they wait for the time when instinct 

 will lead them to warmer climes for their winter's sojourn. 



The wren is almost exclusively insectivorous," and 



