196 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



could not be dislodged. There was fun ahead, I fore- 

 saw, so I took up a position favorable for witnessing the 

 denouement. 



The wrens took their stands near by and quietly 

 waited for the sparrow to appear. This it did not do im- 

 mediately, and one of the wrens became quite uneasy. 

 It chirped and twittered in a restless manner, and finally 

 flew to the wren-box near by, and entered it. I suppose 

 it was a parent-bird anxious about its eggs or young. 

 At any rate, it did not reappear upon the scene. Some 

 ten long minutes passed, and still no signs of the sparrow. 

 The three wrens that remained never once quit their 

 posts, and, wonderfully strange ! they had nothing to say. 

 Finally, the sparrow thrust his head out and took an ob- 

 servation. Immediately the wrens assumed a "make 

 ready " attitude and awaited his coming. 



Things looked ugly for the sparrow, and so it thought, 

 I imagine. Still, the bird had no notion of being a pris- 

 oner, and boldly emerged from his retreat. In an instant, 

 the three wrens darted upon the usurper and drove him 

 from the bird-house. Yainly he endeavored to escape 

 the sharp thrusts of their bills. The wrens were as act- 

 ive as swallows, and eluded every attempt on the part of 

 the sparrow to attack them. The moment he essayed to 

 close with one, the others were upon him, and so success- 

 fully did they manage the fight that they cut off his final 

 effort to regain the bird-box. This the wrens had evi- 

 dently foreseen might be attempted, and consequently 

 they did not at any time leave the sparrow's way open 

 to a retreat in that direction. Nor were the wrens satis- 

 fied with merely regaining possession of their ruined nest. 

 They pursued the sparrow in whatever direction he took, 

 and so wearied him with their ceaseless assaults that he 

 finally yielded to sheer exhaustion and fell to the ground. 



