16 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



them unfit for the nourishment of the thrushes, and the larger 

 insectivorous birds, while their number and variety only be- 

 come apparent, when the boughs of the trees are shaken and 

 their retreats disturbed. How enormous then would be their 

 multiplication had. not nature provided other races of beings 

 to check their increase." 



The arrival of these birds happens with the opening of 

 spring, when the insect hosts are resuscitated with the revival 

 of flowers ; and their departure takes place in autumn, when 

 their food has diminished, and the insects have ceased to 

 multiply. As different localities are assigned to different in- 

 sects, there is a similar diversity of haunts allotted to the 

 different families of warblers. The summer yellow-bird and 

 the yellow-throat, two of the most common of the Sylvias, 

 are constantly seen, during the summer months, among the 

 willows, alders, and the shrubbery of the wet meadows. 

 Here they find their favorite insect food upon the fragrant 

 blossoms of the trees and shrubs, and upon the foliage of the 

 willows. The common wren, on the other hand, more fa- 

 miliar in its habits, frequents our gardens, orchards, and en- 

 closures near our dwelling-houses, and devours the insects 

 that crawl upon the fences, and lurk in the bark of trees and 

 in the crevices of buildings. On account of its fondness for 

 spiders, the wren has in some places received the appellation 

 of spider-bird. 



The common house wren, which is known to every body 

 on account of his lively song and his pugnacious habits, is 

 found in all parts of the United States, and is an indefatigable 

 destroyer of insects. •' The immense numbers of insects 

 (says Alex. Wilson) which this little sociable bird removes 

 from the garden and fruit trees, ought to endear him to every 

 cultivator, even if he had nothing else to recommend him. 

 But his notes, loud, sprightly, tremulous, and repeated every 

 few seconds with great animation, are extremely agreeable." 

 " It feeds on insects and caterpillars, and while supplying the 

 wants of its young, it destroys, on a moderate calculation, 

 many hundreds a day, and greatly circumscribes the ravages 

 of these vermin. The wrens are not confined to the country. 



