THE ROBIN AND THE WREN 221 



nest we watched was deserted as soon as finished in 

 the early spring ; but many weeks later the builders 

 returned, occupied the nest and reared a large family 

 therein. 



The wren is one of the finest sentinel birds 



We would often time these wrens as they fed their 

 young ones, finding that usually they paid between 

 them twenty visits to the nest in an hour. The little 

 mother bird came back with food far more often than 

 the cock bird, and he had a charming habit of sitting 

 and trilling his little lay on the rose bush where the 



