Travels in a Tree-top 31 



made it a home for such birds as might choose 

 to come, as well as for himself, and what royal 

 days have been spent there ! There was 

 no one feature to attraft instant attention as 

 you approached the house. The trees were 

 thrifty, the shrubbery healthy, the roses vig- 

 orous, and the flowering plants judiciously se- 

 ledled ; but what did strike the visitor was 

 the wealth of bird-life. For once let me cat- 

 alogue what I have seen in and about one 

 door-yard and what should be about every 

 one in the land. At the end of the house, 

 and very near the corner of the long portico, 

 stood a martin-box, occupied by the birds for 

 which it was intended. In the porch, so that 

 you could reach it with your hand, was a 

 wren's nest, and what a strange house it had ! 

 It was a huge plaster cast of a lion's head, and 

 between the grim teeth the bird passed and re- 

 passed continually. It promenaded at times 

 on the lion's tongue, and sang triumphantly 

 while perched upon an eyebrow. That wren 

 certainly saw nothing animal-like in the plas- 

 ter cast as it was, and I have wondered if it 

 would have been equally free with a stuffed 

 head of the animal. My many experiments 

 with animals, as to their recognition of ani- 



