d4 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



wren." I rejoice in not being so critical, and I cannot 

 see why the joyous utterances of these wrens should not 

 be. spoken of as songs. Under what circumstances do 

 these birds sing? Up from the tall reeds, " with many 

 a flirt and flutter," a moment in mid-air on trembling 

 wings, out from its panting breast rolls a short, sweet 

 series of mellow notes, without one trace of harshness. 

 " Air bubbles through mud," indeed ! They are rather 

 flute-notes through the sparkling waters, which the bird 

 tarries to catch as they float away, and then sinks back 

 into the reeds. Another and another wren comes into 

 view in like manner until often half a hundred of them 

 have, in quick succession, taken their turn; then for a 

 few minutes silence intervenes. It would seem as 

 though Wilson had but seldom heard these birds, or, pre- 

 occupied at the time, not lent an attentive ear ; or could 

 he have heard a whole colony suffering at the time with 

 sore throat? I can tiiink of no other reason. The most 

 recent accounts of this bird follow Wilson closely, but 

 may it not be that such copy merely his statements? 

 All the world to the contrary, the Crosswicks wrens 

 sing sweetly. Wilson, however, does the nest-building 

 of this bird full credit. He remarks : " As, among the 

 human race, it is not given to one man to excel in every- 

 thing, and yet each, perhaps, has something peculiarly 

 his own ; so among birds we find a like distribution of 

 talents and peculiarities. The little bird now before us 

 — marsh-wren — if deficient and contemptible in singing, 

 excels in the art of design^ and constructs a nest which, 

 in durability, warmth, and convenience, is scarcely in- 

 ferior to one, and far superior to many, of its more 



