250 THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 
him, he will find some hole, corner, or crevice about 
the house, barn, or stable, rather than abandon the 
dwelling of man. 
"In the month of June, a mower hung up his 
coat under a shed near the barn ; two or three days 
elapsed before he had occasion to put it on 
again : thrusting his arm up the sleeve, he found it 
completely filled with some rubbish, as he expressed 
it, and, on extracting the whole mass, found it to be 
the nest of a wren, completely finished, and lined 
with feathers. In his retreat, he was followed by 
the little forlorn proprietors, who scolded him with 
great vehemence for thus ruining the whole economy 
of their household affairs." 
The following detail, as related by the same 
author, must be read with feelings of interest by 
every lover of nature : — " This little bird has a 
strong antipathy to cats, for, having frequent occasion 
to glean among the currant bushes and other shrub- 
bery in the garden, those lurking enemies of the 
feathered race often prove fatal to him. A box fixed 
up in the window of the room where I slept, was 
taken possession of by a pair of wrens ; already the 
nest was built, and two eggs laid, when one day, 
