THE PERCHING BIRDS. 41 



ical races of nearly all of them. In the Eastern and 

 Middle States we are pretty well supplied, and no one, 

 I imagine, has lived in the country or in a village but 

 what has seen and heard the common summer resi- 

 dent " house" or " little brown" wren. Much that 

 was said of the bluebird can be repeated of this lit- 

 tle bird. It was once very much more abundant 

 than now. The imported sparrow is responsible for 

 the sad fact. The two birds cannot or will not live 

 together, and while a wren can thrash a sparrow in 

 open combat, a pair of them cannot withstand the 

 assault of a whole horde of the pestiferous foreigners. 



The Wrens as a family have a good deal in common, 

 seen as individuals, and a person who is familiar with 

 the species on our Eastern seaboard will at once 

 recognize the Cactus- wrens of the far West. They 

 all have a quick, nervous, irritable way about them 

 that is unmistakable. 



The Common House-wren of the East which has 

 a range west to the Mississippi Valley and goes as far 

 north as Canada, and winters in the Southern States 

 has been a favorite theme for ornithological writers, 

 and the stories of its eccentricities, ready wit, and 

 daring ways are innumerable. Its decided preference 

 for the neighborhood of human habitations has to do 

 with this. I doubt not it lingered about the Indians' 

 wigwams, welcomed the earliest European settlers, 

 and, until the introduction of the sparrow, was a fixed 

 feature of every farm-house, and was almost as com- 

 mon in the towns as in the country. All it asked 

 was a little box wherein to nest, and it paid rent 

 therefor in musical notes. Those who have lived 

 4* 



