128 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



I carried the wreck into my study for examination and 

 the examination was full of interest. The gourd measured 

 sixteen inches in circumference, and the birds filled it full ex- 

 cepting the nest proper, which was somewhat egg-like in 

 shape, with the small end to the rear. The nest inside meas- 

 ured two by three inches and was beautifully canopied with 

 hair and feathers. It was constructed of five layers of ma- 

 terials. The first and main layer was made of 307 tip ends of 

 limbs, which measured from a half inch to six and one-half 

 inches in length, and all of them, except one, seeme'd to have 

 been obtained from maple trees. The second layer was made 

 of midribs of catalpa leaves ; the third of rootlets and strips of 

 bark; the fourth of catalpa leaves; and the fifth of hair and 

 very small bird feathers. Often have I seen Tommy Wren 

 come to the door of that nest and sing to Jenny, as only a wren 

 can sing, and he had good cause for doing so, for most cer- 

 tainly she had been provided with one of the snuggest and 

 most dainty of homes, and there was no reason why she should 

 not be happy. 



In the autumn of 1876 Judge Robert S. Taylor and I were 

 attending court at Bluffton, Indiana, and stopping at the same 

 boarding house. One evening we were sitting in the front 

 yard under a pear tree and eating of its fruit. He said to me : 

 "Mr. Woollen, have you ever thought of it, that most of the 

 best things of this world are its smallest things? For instance, 

 of all the pears the Seckle, the smallest of them, is the most 

 delicious and the best." And he was right. The house wren, 

 as I have said, is one of our very smallest birds, and yet it is 

 one of the very best. It is almost exclusively an insectivorous 

 bird, and this is why it is so valuable to us. More especially 

 is this so because of the fact that it prefers to build its nest 

 about our homes, and thus it becomes the protector of our gar- 

 dens and orchards. It is one of the most companionable of 

 birds, and if not abused, becomes very tame and confiding. A 

 gentleman told me a true story, illustrating this fact. His sis- 

 ter, who lived in the country, and was a lover of birds, put up 

 a box on a post in the side yard for a pair of wrens to nest in. 

 They took possession of the box, built their nest, and Jenny 

 Wren was brooding when one morning Tommy Wren came 



