76 
A CHAPTER IN THE 
vent the bluebirds and swallows from taking 
by stealth their house from over their heads, 
but they have to arrange its doors and pas- 
sages so that the enemy of the whole neigh- 
borhood, the widow Cow Bunting, cannot find 
her way in, in case she should call when the 
Wrens are out. 
This widow Cow Bunting, as she is called 
by the birds, — only from courtesy, or derision 
perhaps ; for, although she wears the widow’s 
weeds, she never was married, — is disliked 
by the whole neighborhood ; for, instead of 
marrying and settling down honestly, and 
taking care of her own house and family, she, 
in the most shameful manner, joins the most 
giddy society, and drops her eggs in the nests 
of her neighbors to be taken care of by them, 
as if they didn’t have hard enough work to 
bring up their own families, with every thing 
as high as it is now-a-days, without adopting 
the children of others. 
The Wrens, then, with an eye to future 
security, fix their house so that the disgraceful 
widow cannot enter ; and then they secure all 
