34 Birds Every Child Should Know 



not find a house to let? Wrens really prefer 

 boxes to the holes in stumps and trees they 

 used to occupy before there were any white 

 people with thoughtftd children on this con- 

 tinent. But the little tots have been known to 

 build in tin cans, coat pockets, old shoes, mit- 

 tens, hats, glass jars, and even inside a human 

 skull that a medical student hung out in the 

 sun to bleach ! 



When you are soimd asleep some April morn- 

 ing, a tiny brown bird, just retiuned from a long 

 visit south of the Carolinas, will probably alight 

 on the perch in front of one of your boxes, peep 

 in the doorhole, enter — although his pert 

 little cocked-up-tail has to be lowered to let 

 him through — look about with approval, go 

 out, spring to the roof and pour out of his 

 wee throat a gushing torrent of music. The 

 song seems to bubble up faster than he can 

 sing. "Foive notes to wanst" was an Irish- 

 man's description of it. After the wren's 

 happy discovery of a place to live, his song will 

 go off in a series of musical explosions all day 

 long, now from the roof, now from the clothes- 

 posts, the fence, the bam, or the wood-pile. 

 There never was a more tireless, spirited, bril- 

 liant singer. From the intensity of his feelings, 

 he sometimes droops that expressive little tail 

 of his, which is usually so erect and saucy. 



With characteristic energy, he frequently 



