Impressions 



them, but not one is occupied. Instead, one 

 pair of these birds have chosen a tomato-can 

 turned upside down over a stake. Great skill 

 has been exercised to secure the nest, as there 

 is little room, the stake being large, and, to 

 make bad matters worse, the can sways a good 

 deal whenever the wind blows. Until some ob- 

 server secures a wren's point of view and ex- 

 plains it all, such nesting sites must remain 

 evidences of a wren's lack of wit, from our 

 point of view. I would much like to read a nat- 

 ural history of man written by a wren, or, in- 

 deed, any creature not a man. It would have 

 one quality not always found in men's books, 

 now-a-days, originality. 



We occasionally hear an unfamiliar note and 

 usually wonder what bird uttered it. We for- 

 get that most of our small animals also can be 

 noisy on occasion. I once followed up a boy 

 who was tending cows in the meadow, thinking 

 I was on the track of some rare visitor to these 

 parts. As he told me, he was "tryin' to shape 

 a tune to some po'try he'd made up." Since 

 then I keep in mind the possible sources of 

 sounds I hear other than birds. Only recently, 



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