158 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
cracks and crannies where a fly might edge itself 
into the moulding. Once he dropped a worm, 
and you should have seen him come tumbling 
down after it! 
The nest of this brave little bird is snug and 
warm, made of moss, lined with soft feathers, and 
lodged “in crevices of dead logs or stumps in 
thick, coniferous woods.” What a pleasure it 
would be to follow him north, and study all his 
pretty ways in the dark forest home, where he 
furnishes mirth and sunshine all the summer 
through. 
The wren is found in pigeon-hole No. 10, 
along with his cousins the thrasher and ecatbird. 
“ Wrens, thrashers, ete.,” is on the door-plate — 
perhaps the catbird is left out because he always 
takes pains to announce himself. All the house- 
hold have long bills, and the catbird and thrasher 
have also long tails, with very short wings , while 
they all have a piquant way of perking up their 
tails when startled. 
In contrast to the vireos, tanagers, and orioles, 
these birds spend most of their time in shrubs or 
bushes rather than in high trees. Different birds 
take various levels — stories in their out-of-doors 
house. The sparrows and chewinks live in the 
basement — on the ground-floor; the wrens and 
thrashers on the first floor in bushes and shrubs ; 
the indigo-bird on the third floor — low trees; 
the vireos and tanagers and orioles on the fourth 
_ 
oe ee —— 
