154: RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



first object to determine, for I did not suppose it had a 

 nest so late in the season, and I had not noticed the bird 

 particularly during the summer months, although I knew 

 they were in the neighborhood. A protracted search 

 failed, indeed, in finding any nest ; but while I was wan- 

 dering about I was surprised to see the wren enter the 

 building and proceed immediately to search for spiders, 

 which hitherto were abundant in every nook and cor- 

 ner, but now were comparatively scarce. Once the bird 

 alighted upon the back of a horse standing in its stall, and 

 while there quietly preened its feathers, as much as a 

 wren ever deigns to do this, and then, with a shrill chirp 

 that startled the animal, away it flew in search of more 

 spiders. 



Late in the afternoon of the same day I again saw the 

 wren enter the stable and pass directly through the mow- 

 hole to the hay-loft overhead. I followed and found 

 that the bird had taken possession of a barn-swallow's 

 nest, and here it was keeping bachelor's hall. The nest 

 was placed against a rafter, near the peak of the roof, 

 and was quite inaccessible to cats. This probably the 

 wren did not consider. It is a sly cat that ever catches 

 a wren napping. The bird did not like my discovering 

 his hiding-place, or at least was annoyed by my inquisi- 

 tiveness. It circled about me several times, snapping its 

 beak I thought, and chirped an unusually emphatic tsip, 

 which I took to be the wrennish for " damn." 



All through the mellow September days, early and 

 late, the clear notes of this wren were to be heard, and 

 through October, and long after every summer songster 

 had departed, I heard them daily and many times a day. 



During the autumn there was little to note with re- 

 gard to the bird's habits. The insects in the stable and 

 outbuildings afforded it a sufficient food supply, but dur- 



