The House Wren 35 



begins to carry twigs into the house before he 

 finds a mate. The day Httle Jenny Wren 

 appears on the scene, how he does sing ! Dash- 

 ing off for more twigs, but stopping to sing to 

 her every other minute, he helps furnish the 

 cottage quickly, but, of course, he overdoes — 

 he carries in more twigs and hay and feathers 

 than the little house can hold, then pulls half 

 of them out again. Jenny gathers too, for she 

 is a bustling housewife and arranges matters 

 with neatness and despatch. Neither vermin 

 nor dirt will she tolerate within her well-kept 

 home. Everything she does to suit herself 

 pleases her ardent little lover. He applauds 

 her with song; he flies about after her with a 

 nervous desire to protect ; he seems beside him- 

 self with happiness. Let any one pass too near 

 his best beloved, and he begins to chatter ex- 

 citedly: '' Chit-chtt-chit-chit" as much as to 

 say, "Oh, do go away; go quickly! Can't you 

 see how nervous and fidgety you make me? " 



If you fancy that Jenny Wren, who is 

 patiently sitting on the little pinkish chocolate 

 spotted eggs in the centre of her feather bed, 

 is a demure, angelic creature, you have never 

 seen her attack the sparrow, nearly twice her 

 size, that dares put his impudent head inside 

 her door. Oh, how she flies at him! How she 

 chatters and scolds! What a plucky little shrew 

 slie is, after all ! Her piercing, chattering, scold- 



