The House Wren 129 



flying wildly about the lady and seemed much distressed. She 

 said to him, "Go away, Tommy ; I haven't time to talk to you 

 now." Tommy persisted, and fearing that something had hap- 

 pened to their home, she went into the side yard to see and 

 to her consternation discovered that a big snake had crawled 

 up the stake and was trying to get at Jenny. She called to 

 the gardener, who was mowing weeds near by, and he came 

 and cut off the snake's head, and then Tommy was happy. 



The first summer after putting up the box for the pair of 

 wrens at Somerleaze, we became well acquainted with each 

 other. A tree stood close by their nest, the limbs of it reach- 

 ing to about fifteen feet of it. I could go to the nest at any 

 hour of the day and tap on the stake and say, "Come to me, 

 Jenny Wren," and she and Tommy would come and alight on 

 the limbs next to the nest, and then Jenny would scold me at 

 a great rate, as much as to say, "Why are you disturbing my 

 home in this manner?" True to their habit, this pair of wrens 

 built three sham nests. A pleasing incident connected with 

 this pair of wrens was this : The next spring I was out at the 

 farm planting shrubbery when all at once I thought I heard a 

 noise close by like that of Jenny Wren when she was scolding 

 me. I looked up into a haw bush close by from which the 

 noise seemed to come, and sure enough, there was my Jenny 

 Wren. At least I concluded it was my Jenny Wren, for she 

 followed me about the yard and scolded me as vigorously as 

 she had the year before. If I am right in my conclusion, is 

 it not interesting to remember that this pair of little birds had 

 returned from the far distant Southland with unerring certain- 

 ty to the very spot where they had their home last year, and 

 that Jenny had not forgotten how to scold? 



The house wren's song is a merry one, sudden, abruptly 

 ended, and frequently repeated. Mr. Ernest Seton Thompson 

 labels his picture of it "The Irrepressible," and no doubt he 

 so named it from its song and nervous restlessness. It has 

 been my observation that Tommy does all the singing and 

 Jenny all the scolding. I have never heard Jenny sing and I 

 have never heard Tommy scold, although he stays close by 

 Jenny while she does. Tommy is a most devoted. husband and 

 father. While Jenny is brooding, he constantly comes close to 



