THE SOU THE 



who built in the pudlock holes, about twelve 

 feet apart, and which I took for father and son, 

 I have never known them to permit another to 

 build at a less distance than one hundred feet. 

 And even then their battles are very frequent. 



To give you an idea of the courage and per- 

 tinacity of these little creatures in asserting and 

 maintaining their rights, I will relate an incident 

 which occurred in 1856. The year before I had 

 set up a good many little boxes for the wrens, 

 a pair had built in one of them. But previous 

 to their return in the Spring, a pair of Blue 

 birds had taken possession, and the female had 

 laid two eggs. When the wrens arrived, you 

 may well conceive their indignation, by imagin- 

 ing what would be your own, if on a return from 

 atrip to the springs, you should find that some 

 ambitious couple had appropriated your man- 

 sion to themselves, and refused to give it up. — 

 In an ecstasy of rage, the male rushed into his 

 box and began to demolish the nest of the Blue 

 bird. Presently the female Blue bird lit on the 

 box, and seeing what was going on, flew to an up- 

 per branch, uttering a low plaintive note, pecu- 

 liar to expressing the emotions which must then 

 have filled her breast. In an instant the gal- 

 lant male was by her side. He was a fine and 

 beautiful bird, in full plumage, and must have 

 been at least three years old, in the very prime 

 and vigor of his life. The female repeated her 

 wail, and in a little while the male was cling- 

 ing to the side of the box, cautiously peeping 

 in, as if he expected to see a snake. So soon 

 as he discovered the wren, as quick as thought, 

 he was in upon him. I ran up to the back of 

 the box, which was fastened to a Mimosa tree, 

 about five feet from the ground. The noise and 

 thwacks within, were worthy of these two re- 

 doubted champions. At last they emerged from 

 the box, and fastening with beak and claw, fell 

 upon the ground at my feet. I was partially 

 concealed by the intervening body of the small 

 tree, but so intent were they upon the fight that 

 they either did not see or regard me. The} 7 

 worked away with might and main to effect 

 each other's destruction. At last the Blue bird 

 seized his diminutive antagonist by the gasping 

 throat, and pummelled him with his wings. — 

 The wren was on his back, and I thought fast 

 expiring. 1 reached down to pull the Blue 

 bird off, he discovered me and flew away. The 

 wren hopped to the cedar hedge, I have men- 

 tioned, and having arranged his feathers, and 

 blown for a minute or so, began to sing as if lie 

 had achieved a signal victory. His gentle part- 

 ner came, and after some little chattering be- 

 tween them, the male flew to the box again, 

 though I was standing not more than a dozen 

 feet from it I retired a little farther, and the 

 impatient Blue bird rushed to the conflict. But 

 the wren had changed his tactics. I had pur- 

 posely made the hole in the box very small, to 

 exclude other birds than the wren, though I 

 had miscalculated the size, yet it was a pretty 

 tight squeeze for the blue bird to get in. The 



UN PLANTER. 67 



wren, as if aware of this, prevented the ingress 

 of the blue bird by protruding his long needle- 

 like bill through the hole. After various inef- 

 fectual efforts to enter, the blue bird seemed to 

 give it up, and seated himself on the top of the 

 box, in an upright manner, with a disconsolate 

 air. Every now and then both he and the fe- 

 male would make efforts to enter, but they were 

 baffled by the wren. I became fatigued watch- 

 ing them so long, and did not observe them any 

 more till the next morning, when I saw both of 

 the little wrens carrying in comparatively huge 

 sticks in a prodigious hurry. When the blue 

 birds made their appearance, they would sus- 

 pend operations, and the male would rest him- 

 self on the sticks and protrude the point of his 

 bill just beyond the hole. So soon as they 

 disappeared, the wrens would resume their 

 work: and twice whilst the blue birds were 

 present the female carried a stick in her mouth 

 and handed it to the male. But the rough 

 handling she met with from the blue birds 

 caused her to stop this ingenious device, and 

 to keep herself under cover whilst they were 

 in sight. Thus things proceeded, and by the 

 third day the box was so barricaded that the 

 wrens could hardly squeeze in, and there was 

 no chance for the blue birds to enter. The lat- 

 ter evidently despaired, but still kept up a har- 

 rassing and vexatious warfare, soundly thrash- 

 ing the poor little wrens whenever they would 

 pass to or from their box, and before they could 

 shelter under the hedge. I felt sorry for the 

 blue birds, so I put a box for them in an ash 

 tree not far off. To this they soon repaired and 

 built. But the poor little wrens had a sad time 

 of it during the whole brooding season. The 

 blue birds never ceased to attack them when- 

 ever they saw them. And to add to their 

 troubles, a pair of Baltimore Orioles built on a 

 limb of a locust tree which projected nearly 

 over their little box. The male oriole treated 

 the wren worse than did the blue birds. One 

 day whilst he was sitting on his box singing 

 merrily, the oriole fell upon him, made him fast 

 with beak and wing claw, brought him to the 

 ground, plucked every feather from his tail but 

 one, and so many from one wing, that he could 

 scarcely fly ; and unless I had run to the res- 

 cue I verily believe he would have been killed. 

 But he was game to the last, and after I had 

 driven off the oriole, he hopped off to the hedge 

 and began to sing as glorious a song of victory 

 as ever he had done in his life. He became 

 disheartened, however, and seldom ventured to 

 the box, for fear of the blue birds and orioles. 

 The female had now hatched, but she was so 

 harrassed by her potent enemies that she could 

 only feed her young by stealth. This she man- 

 aged to do very adroitly. She never flew di- 

 rectly to the box, but would watch her oppor- 

 tunity, and fly quickly from the hedge to a 

 flowering pomegranate, under the Mimosa, this 

 gave her excellent protection by its thick set 

 growth. Here she would pause, and when the 



