Travels in a Tree-top 3 1 



made it a home for such birds as might choose 

 to come, as well as for himself, and what royal 

 days have been spent there! There was 

 no one feature to attract instant attention as 

 you approached the house. The trees were 

 thrifty, the shrubbery healthy, the roses vig- 

 orous, and the flowering plants judiciously se- 

 lefted; but what did strike the visitor was 

 the wealth of bird-life. For once let me cat- 

 alogue what I have seen in and about one 

 door-yard and what should be about every 

 one in the land. At the end of the house, 

 and very near the corner of the long portico, 

 stood a martin-box, occupied by the birds for 

 which it was intended. In the porch, so that 

 you could reach it with your hand, was a 

 wren's nest, and what a strange house it had ! 

 It was a huge plaster cast of a lion's head, and 

 between the grim teeth the bird passed and re- 

 passed continually. It promenaded at times 

 on the lion's tongue, and sang triumphantly 

 while perched upon an eyebrow. That wren 

 certainly saw nothing animal-like in the plas- 

 ter cast as it was, and I have wondered if it 

 would have been equally free with a stuffed 

 head of the animal. My many experiments 

 with animals, as to their recognition of ani- 



