THE GREAT CAROLINA WREN. 7 1 



a table also stood here for the daily mail, where we read and discussed 

 the questions of the day. And here this persistent, wide-awake couple 

 chose to erect their domicile. They commenced building in a corner 

 on the plate just under the roof. 



Unlike the house wren, they do not use sticks in the construction of 

 their nest, but an abundance of the softest material they can get. We 

 had brought from the woods a quantity of a beautiful fern-like moss 

 which we had stripped from decaying logs, and had placed it on the 

 ground beneath one of the trees. This moss, so light and spongy, was 

 just the thing for the little builders — ever so much better than the long 

 gray Tillandsia which tliey had been using. They would alight upon 

 it and chatter over its merits, and both seemed agreed as to its excellent 

 qualities as a building material. 



They worked harmoniouslj- together for several da\s, the male stop- 

 ping every now and then to express his happiness in a loud, prolonged 

 strain of music. But the female proved very fickle-minded. All at 

 once without any apparent reason, she changed her mind witli regard 

 to the location of the domicile, and chose the other end of the piazza, 

 near where we most frequently sat. Evidently the male did not like 

 this. She had already changed the location several times, and he had 

 quietly submitted, but now he seemed to be reasoning with her, and 

 was determined not to yield to this new whim of hers, and she was as 

 fully bent on liaving her way. He continued work where tiiey had com- 

 menced, and she persistently went on in the other corner. Occasionally 

 he prevailed upon her to come and inspect his work, and witli lieads 

 close together they would chatter over it. Then he would drop down 

 upon the railing of the piazza, throw up his head and express his 

 delight in rapturous songs. But it was of no use ; he could not win her 

 back, neither could she prevail upon him to assist her in the other cor- 

 ner; they would meet upon the ground, and chatter over the moss, and 

 then fly with it to their respective corners, looking askance at one another. 

 The female worked very diligently for more than a week, while the 

 male, with less to do, devoted half his time to song and vain at- 

 tempts to lure her back. It was May when they finished building; and 

 now the male, fairly beaten, yielded gracefully. He accompanied her to 

 her cosey nest, and lovingly chattered over the pearly treasure deposited 

 there; he seemed to forgive her then and there, and no longer visited 

 the other nest, and henceforth was a most devoted partner. 



While the little proprietors were away, I took occasion to examine 

 their work. I found both corners filled in with a large quantity of ma- 

 terial, and in one side of this abundant mass was the soft symmetrical 

 nest. The eggs were nearly or quite white. The nest that the male 

 completed was more beautiful than the female's, and how she could have 

 refused such cosey quarters is a mystery. 



