BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



quisitive member of the family, however, for when his mate 

 is not busy with her household cares, .she, too, is .meddling 

 with neighborhood affairs. 



But no matter how engrossed they are with affairs, 

 whether foreign or domestic, the slightest stir in the leaf 

 screen above them, different from the stir of the wind, always 

 reminds them that there are babes in the nest and that they 

 are their defenders. If a squirrel or blue- jay happens to 

 be the disturber, a quick touch on the brush or a peck in the 

 back from one of these little feathered creatures is enough to 

 cause a retreat. Occasionally a clawed paw grazes the saucy 

 tail of one of them, but not often. 



However much the wren may enjoy nest life her reign 

 there is brief, for soon her infant brood grows large enough 

 and soon they are possessed of the proper equipment of 

 feathers to render a larger field more desirable. On leaving 

 the nest the uncertain and fitful flight of the httle ones is 

 guided for a few days by the parents, ever on the alert to 

 prevent them in their fear from scrambling into rat-holes or 

 other dangerous places — ^to a yoimg wren any sort of hole 

 is a place of safety. As he grows older he learns that those 

 on the ground are an exception, likely to be occupied by 

 enemies. 



At nightfall, the wrenlets are guided to low trees or 

 bushes, which they climb in their mouse-like way — ^while they 

 are yet too weak to fly up as well as down. But as wrens 

 develop rapidly, in a day or two they will be able to fly almost 

 anywhere, and in a few more days they will have the ability 

 to not only go where they choose, but also to assume their 

 own support, thus leaving their parents to devote themselves 

 to their own pleasures. 



Before the summer is over we will see these fledglings, 



38 



