SALLY THE HOUSE WREN 305 



of worms carried to the nest, based on counts made a large 

 number of times, was a little more than one worm every 

 three minutes. Often they would average a worm a minute 

 for an hour or two. Usually the babies in the second brood 

 received more food than those in the first, not because the 

 old birds were more fond of them, but because food was 

 more abundant at that time. When we think of those 

 birds feeding their young ones worms every three minutes 

 for hours every day over a period of at least three weeks, 

 we can get some idea how beneficial they were to the gar- 

 den. This means that for every brood of baby wrens 

 raised near a garden thousands of worms are destroyed, 

 to say nothing of what the old birds themselves eat. We 

 never had to pay any attention to cabbage worms in our 

 garden, for I had places in the yard where at least five 

 pairs of wrens nested every season. 



I have said little about Sally's husband, but he was an 

 important member of the family. He was a jovial, gallant 

 husband, proud of his family and jealous for their safety. 

 He did the singing, but he nevertheless did a fair share 

 of the work. When his mate began sitting he sang more 

 than ever. Perched on a branch near the nest he fairly 

 laid himself out to excel all other wrens in the vicinity. 

 Should another wren sing too well, he would attack him 

 at once and a battle royal was sure to follow. When he 

 had succeeded in chasing his fancied rival away, he came 

 back with a more exalting song than before ; but he never 

 became so busy with singing and fighting that he failed to 

 slip away every little while and catch a worm for his wife. 



The wren does not usually come north until danger of 

 frost is past, but when he does come no bird is more full of 

 song. Some claim that the male comes first and begins 



