almost completed and the third and 

 fourth well under way. Why this 

 seeming waste of labor I do not 

 know. Can it be that there is some- 

 thing of the land-grabbing instinct in 

 birds as well as men? It seems that the 

 little builders may have been taking ad- 

 vantage of some sort of pre-emption law 

 known to their kind, in order to secure 

 desirable sites for future use or to avoid 

 the danger of having too close neigh- 

 bors. With them, as with our pre- 

 emptors, it may be necessary to "im- 

 prove" a claim in order to hold it against 

 later claimants. 



Wrens pursue the same tactics. Two 

 boxes are situated about thirty yards 

 apart. Each spring for several years a 

 pair of wrens have begun to build in 

 both at the same time, keeping up the 

 divided labor for a few days and then 

 settling in the farther box. The other 

 then receives very little attention until 

 they are ready to prepare for the second 

 brood of the summer, which is always 

 hatched out in the neglected box. The 

 presumption is that the birds have this 

 in view all the time, but there seems to 

 be no way of proving it. 



Wrens and pewees become very fa- 

 miliar by close association. A year or 

 two ago the mistress of the house was 

 seated near the wall of an outbuilding, 

 just below the hole in which a pair of 

 wrens had their nest. Her duties had 

 often brought her near them, to their 

 evident satisfaction ; but this was a new 

 departure, and the confiding little crea- 

 tures were somewhat worried. The nest 

 was scarcely three feet above her head, 

 and there were hungry babies within. 

 They held noisy consultations, sang 



jerky snatches of song to show how lit- 

 tle they cared, and then began to flit in 

 and out with much scolding and many 

 suspicious glances at the intruder. At 

 last one of them found courage to make 

 a vigorous attack upon the offender. 

 After striking her viciously on the head, 

 it flew, chattering away to sing its tri- 

 umph, when the amused lady concluded 

 to give up the field to the valiant little 

 defender of its home. 



One day while sorting strawberries I 

 noticed a young pewee that kept flitting 

 about, eying me critically and giving a 

 sharp cry now and then as if overflow- 

 ing with curiosity to know the meaning 

 of such proceedings. My mind soon 

 drifted away from the bird, but was sud- 

 denly brought back when it alighted on 

 my shoulder. By turning the head very 

 slowly so as not to frighten him, I could 

 look into his bright little eyes while he 

 looked wonderingly into mine. One 

 word, designed to call the attention of 

 the pickers, so frightened him that he 

 flew, screaming, away. It might not be 

 flattering to one's vanity, but I should 

 really like to know just what he thought 

 while looking so sharply into the eyes of 

 the monster. 



We may be foolish to spend so much 

 time in watching the birds and talking 

 to them as if they could understand ; but 

 there is something in it that makes life 

 more enjoyable — really better worth liv- 

 ing. And, after all, isn't it the wisest 

 course to get out of life as much harm- 

 less pleasure as we can? If so, there is 

 no better place than the country and no 

 better way than by communing with the 

 birds. Egbert T. Bush. 



'.'10 



