136 HOUSE WREN. 



is differently constructed, the number of its eggs fewer ; it is 

 also migratory ; and has the tail and bill much longer. Its 

 food is insects and caterpillars, and, while supplying the wants 

 of its young, it destroys, on a moderate calculation, many 

 hundreds a day, and greatly circumscribes the ravages of these 

 vermin. It is a bold and insolent bird against those of the 

 titmouse and woodpecker kind that venture to build within 

 its jurisdiction ; attacking them without hesitation, though 

 twice its size, and generally forcing them to decamp. I have 

 known him drive a pair of swallows from their newly formed 

 nest, and take immediate possession of the premises, in which 

 his female also laid her eggs, and reared her young. Even 

 the blue bird, who claims an equal, and sort of hereditary 

 right to the box in the garden, when attacked by this little 

 impertinent, soon relinquishes the contest, the mild placidness 

 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 ; and 

 when their respective females are sitting, each strains his 

 whole powers of song to excel the other. When the young 

 are hatched, the hurry and press of business leave no time for 

 disputing, so true it is that idleness is the mother of mischief. 

 These birds are not confined to the country ; they are to be 

 heard on the tops of the houses in the most central parts of our 

 cities, singing with great energy. Scarce a house or cottage 

 in the country is without at least a pair of them, and some- 

 times two ; but unless where there is a large garden, orchard, 

 and numerous outhouses, it is not often the case that more 

 than one pair reside near the same spot, owing to their party 

 disputes and jealousies. It has been said by a friend to this 

 little bird, that "the esculent vegetables of a whole garden 

 may, perhaps, be preserved from the depredations of different 

 species of insects, by ten or fifteen pair of these small birds;"* 

 and probably they might, were the combination practicable ; 

 but such a congregation of wrens about one garden is a 



* Barton's Fragments, part i. p. 22. 



