12 Union Bay 



place at first— then I understood it. It was the proximity to 

 civilization. 



When I first thought of studying biology, I had pictured 

 scientific inquiries in connection with long treks into some 

 jungle with porters lugging my equipment and supplies. Now 

 I was studying wildlife, but where were the porters and the 

 wilderness? The subject didn't lack appeal, but where was 

 the romance in such a location? I was just a good golf shot 

 from the stadium, and close enough so that I could hear the 

 coaches bawling out the players in spring football practice, 

 and the profs calling "fore'' on the golf links. I could even 

 hear the crack of the bat when some fellow on the baseball 

 squad connected with a ball in batting practice. What was 

 exciting about such research? I voiced my thoughts to an 

 older friend of mine. 



"Remember the old saying/'' he replied. "'Adventure is 

 where you find it. ? If you work hard enough maybe someday 

 you may get to a place where a lion will bite out the seat 

 of your pants, so just be patient." 



I learned much as I sat long and quietly in my canoe and 

 watched the birds. The wrens patrolled their territory con- 

 stantly as a policeman might cover his beat. They moved 

 from cattail to cattail, sometimes high and now and then at 

 water level, where the tangle must have appeared to them as 

 a windfelled forest appears to men. This lower strip was 

 claimed by the song sparrows who dashed at the wrens when 

 they came too close. But the sparrows seemed td recognize 

 the wrens' right to nest and feed in the upper part of the 

 cattails and did not molest them if they stayed there. 



The birds selected certain high cattails in their areas for 

 singing points. As each wren moved from one to another post 

 in its reservation, it announced its presence by singing, not 

 light and sweet trills, but by forceful, bubbling, and harsh 

 notes which might be compared in quality to the rather ques- 

 tionable texture of a bathroom serenade. The song completed, 



