20 Bird Life Stories 



frequent occasion to glean among the currant bushes and 

 other shrubbery in the garden, those lurking enemies of the 

 feathered race often prove fatal to him. 



The immense number of insects which this sociable little 

 bird removes from the garden and fruit trees ought to endear 

 him to every cultivator, even if he had nothing else to recom- 

 mend him. But his notes, loud, sprightly, tremulous and 

 repeated every few seconds with great animation, are extremely 

 agreeable In the heat of summer, families in the country 

 often dine on the piazza under green canopies of vines and 

 creepers, while overhead the trilling vivacity of the Wren, 

 mingled with the warbling mimicry of the Mockingbird and 

 the distant softened sounds of numerous other songsters, form 

 a soul-soothing music, breathing peace, innocence and repose. 

 In strength of tone and execution the song of this species is 

 tar superior to that of the European Wren. 



The food of the House-wren consists of insects and cater- 

 pillars. While supplying the wants of its young, it destroys, on 

 a moderate calculation, many hundreds of these pests a day, 

 thus greatly reducing their ravages. It is a bold and insolent 

 bird against those of the Titmouse or Woodpecker kind that 

 venture to build within its jurisdiction, attacking them with- 

 out hesitation, though they be twice as large, and generally forc- 

 ing them to decamp. Even the Bluebird, who claims an equal 

 and, as it were, hereditary right to the box in the garden, when 

 attacked by this little impertinent, sometimes relinquishes the 

 contest, the mild placidity of his disposition not being a match 

 for the fiery impetuosity of his little antagonist. With those 

 of his own species, who settle and build near him, he has 

 frequent squabbles. 



In summer the House-wren is found throughout the east- 

 ern United States, west to Michigan and Indiana, and north 



