corded several peculiar sites. "One was 

 beneath the board covering of an ash- 

 hopper; another in a joint of stovepipe 

 which lay horizontally across two joists 

 in the garret of a smoke-house ; a third 

 was behind the weather-boarding of an 

 ice-house, while a fourth was in the bot- 

 tom of the conical portion of a quail-net 

 that had been hung up against the inner 

 side ol a buggy shed. None of these 

 nests would have been found had not the 

 bird been seen to enter." 



The nest is usually very large and 

 bulky. In fact, its dimensions are often 

 only limited by the size of the hole, 

 crevice or corner in which it is built. A 

 variety of materials are used in its con- 

 struction. Straw, fine roots, twigs, coarse 

 grasses, chips and feathers are all used 

 in the building of the body of the nest. 

 These materials are matted and held to- 

 gether with animal hairs, fine vegetable 



fibers and spiders' webs. The lining con- 

 sists of fine feathers from the barnyard 

 and other soft substances. Both the 

 nests and the eggs closely resemble many 

 of those of the house wren, and, though 

 smaller, are quite like those of the Caro- 

 lina wren. 



Bewick's Wren is willing to be the as- 

 sociate of man. In this environment it 

 is at home and contented. It can care for 

 itself and resents too great familiarity, 

 energetically scolding any intrusion in 

 the vicinity of its home. Often the male 

 Wren enlivens the day by mounting to 

 some high perch on the housetop or the 

 highest twig of some neighboring tree 

 and there expresses its happiness in con- 

 tinuous song for an hour or more. 



Isaac McLellan tells cf the music of 

 a quiet farmyard in the following lines : 



How rich the varied choir! The unquiet finch 

 Calls from the distant hollows, and the wren 

 Uttereth her sweet and mellow plaint at times. 



THE ROBIN. 



He lights on a blossoming pear tree spray 



And begins his song without warning — 

 Cheer up ! Cheer up ! Clear away ! Clear away ! 



In the dusk of the early morning, 

 And the petals are falling in broad white flakes, 



While robin keeps cheerily calling. 

 Little cares he if the bent sprav breaks : 



His wings will keep him from falling. 



The little girl wakes from her dreamless sleep 



And her blue eyes open in wonder, 

 For she hears the robin clear and sweet 



And she hears the rain and the thunder. 

 But cheerily now he calls again, 



With never a note of repining. 

 Little cares he for the wind and the rain ; 



The sun will soon be shining. * 



— Charles Alexander Richmond. 



149 



