THE DRAWBRIDGE. 263 



downy fellow, flit from stake to stake watching the 

 plodding ploughman at his toil, and scolding mildly 

 when he comes too near. 



It was at these weed -hidden bars that I once wit- 

 nessed a riot in wrendom. A pair of vigorous Caro- 

 linas and four irate house-wrens had met to settle a dis- 

 pute. They had no judge to which to appeal, nor was 

 there an attentive jury, but every bush was crowded 

 with spectators. 



As my old friend Uz Gaunt once remarked, " When 

 any smooth -headed bird raises its crest, look out for 

 fun." I saw something like this, and was at once on 

 the alert for interesting developments. Not one of the 

 six wrens but had every feather of its head pointing 

 upward, and with it all each spluttered, stuttered, 

 screamed, and hissed until nearly exhausted. Every 

 syllable of the wrenish language was uttered with em- 

 phasis. Every few seconds one or more would with- 

 draw, as though to recover breath, and then reappear, 

 excited and disputatious as ever. But it was a war of 

 words only, and became monotonous. In hopes of de- 

 termining the cause of the difficulty, I thrust myself 

 among them and scattered the spectators, but not the 

 wrens. They resented my interference ; and while not 

 quite willing to attack me, became allies for the time, 

 and vented their spleen in no uncertain manner. I 

 withdrew to a short distance, when the wrens reassem- 

 bled at the fence, and the quarrel soon waxed louder 

 than ever, and thus engaged I left them. 



Two days later I found the Carolina wrens in peace- 

 ful possession of the spot, and in an adjoining panel 



