158 



THE KING OF BIRDS. 



domed nest to any other; first, because it is more lofty, and, second, 

 because it protects the royal eggs from cold and rain. 



But sometimes he chooses the strangest places for his nest. A 

 wren's nest has been found in the body of a dead hawk, which had 

 been killed and nailed to the side of a barn, to frighten other 

 hawks. 



Once a farmer had killed a calf, and hung 

 a tree. (It seems a singular thing to 

 on a tree, as if he were a horse-thief; 

 the way I heard the story.) 



its body on 

 hang a calf 

 but that is 

 Some days 

 the calf 

 he found a 

 Again, I 

 tie Queen 

 nest inside 

 in and out 

 spout to 

 natural du- 

 she do when they were 

 Why, I suppose she waited 

 stopped, don't you? At least 

 what I should have done in her 

 case. - '\, j^ When winter comes the little 



wrens are "^C/ P^t to all sorts of shifts to keep themselves 

 warm. ' Sometimes, in very cold weather, they may 



be found all huddled together in heaps, six or seven of them 

 together, looking like masses of soft brown feathers. Sometimes 

 they get into their summer nests, the whole family, parents and 

 children, crowding into the little hollow under the dome. 



Once a kind lady, who was very fond of birds, and used to 

 scatter crumbs for them in her garden every day in cold weather, 

 happened to see a party of wrens go to bed; and this is how they 

 did it. They gathered together on a large branch of a tree, about 

 four inches above which grew another branch. On the lower 

 branch the wrens packed themselves comfortably together, three 

 or four deep, the topmost bird always having his little brown back 



after, when the fai-mer cut 

 down in order to cut it up, 

 wren's nest in its throat, 

 have heard of a lit- 

 Wren, who made her 

 a pump, and went 

 through the 

 attend to her 

 ties. "What did 

 pumping water? " 

 until they 

 that is 



