BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



than monopolize more bird houses than they 

 require. Apart from the value of the Wrens 

 as insect destroyers they are charming neigh- 

 bors. Their soft brown feathers and their 

 sharp bright eyes make them very attractive 

 creatures as they flit about the door and 

 windows, and, more than all, their songs are a 

 delight. Being of so confiding a nature they 

 will sing very near to us. Last year a family of 

 young Wrens hatched in a house near the wood 

 shed, took their singing lessons on the wood 

 pile, sending out from that dull, humble spot a 

 chorus of sweetest song. 



The Wren is but one of the many birds that 

 would gladly come nearer if they found it safe 

 to do so. There are birds that gather their 

 food from the injurious grubs and insects of 

 the ground, birds that live on the flies, midges 

 and other pests of the air, and some, like the 

 Barn Swallow, that devour the flies that are 

 such a torment to horses and cattle. There 

 are birds that work among the leaves of trees 

 and shrubs, and birds that hammer away the 

 loose bark of the tree trunks and branches, 

 searching out the insects from underneath. 

 Without birds the fruit grower and the farmer 



[14] 



