136 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



save the bristly cactus. Here, with the rattle- 

 snakes for companions, and plenty of tiny insects 

 for food, the cactus-wren builds its nest and rears 

 its family. It is well known that rattlesnakes are 

 fond of young birds before they are out of the 

 nest. Of course, after it is out of the nest and on 

 the wing, any bird is more than a match for a 

 snake. 



Snake sees the parent wrens flitting about the 

 brush after the insects, and he thinks to himself 

 " There are no trees for you to build in, little birds; 

 I will watch and see where you put your eggs." 

 But the wrens trouble not themselves about snake 

 and his breakfast. Nature has told them just how 

 to keep their young from so sly an enemy. 



Some time in March or April you may take a 

 walk out into the mountain washes where the 

 cactus grows, and watch for the wrens. If you 

 keep still under cover of a scrub-oak or a big 

 rock, you may see how the work is done, and how 

 mother wren manages to get ahead of snake. 



The nesting-material is grass and slender sticks 

 and plant fibers. These are woven into a pouch 

 not unlike a bush-tit's nest laid on its side. The 

 nest is secured to the fork or branch of the low 

 cactus. It is thickly lined with feathers. Then 

 a long passageway like the entrance to an Es- 



