A Morning in May. 85 



others could not, and I have my own opinion 

 of the matter. Whether birds of the out-door 

 world come to distinguish individuals or not, 

 they are very much tamer in some localities 

 than others. This no one will deny. My 

 friends were surprised, at the opening of the 

 nesting season, to see a wren's nest on the porch 

 where people were continually passing; and 

 these wrens seemed to know the difference 

 between the family and strangers ; but later in 

 the season a pair of wrens took possession of 

 a little watering-pot hung against the side of the 

 house, within arm's length of the pump. A 

 nest was built and a brood reared within six 

 feet of a farm-house kitchen door. I had heard 

 strange stories of very tame house-wrens before, 

 and I am better prepared to believe them now. 

 Do we not too often consider as unusual some 

 incident to which our attention is particularly 

 called ? We relate it as an anecdote of animal 

 life, and think it a remarkable illustration of 

 some mental or instinctive quality of the bird or 

 animal, when in fact it is an every-day occur- 

 rence. What we see done is not likely to be at 

 all unusual. Under peculiar circumstances any 



