36 Birds Every Child Should Know 
ing notes are fairly hissed into his ears until he 
is thankful enough to escape. 
THE LITTLE BROWN WREN* 
There’s a little brown wren that has built in our tree, 
And she’s scarcely as big as a big bumble-bee; 
She has hollowed a house in the heart of a limb, 
And made the walls tidy and made the floors trim 
With the down of the crow’s foot, with tow, and with straw 
The cosiest dwelling that ever you saw. 
This little brown wren has the brightest of eyes 
And a foot of a very diminutive size. 
Her tail is as trig as the sail of a ship. 
She’s demure, though she walks with a hop and a skip; 
And her voice — but a flute were more fit than a pen 
To tell of the voice of the little brown wren. 
One morning Sir Sparrow came sauntering by 
And cast on the wren’s house an envious eye; 
With a strut of bravado and toss of his head, 
“I’ll put in my claim here,” the bold fellow said; 
So straightway he mounted on impudent wing, 
And entered the door without pausing to ring. 
An instant — and swiftly that feathery knight 
All towsled and tumbled, in terror took flight. 
While there by the door on her favourite perch. 
As neat as a lady just starting for church. 
With this song on her lips, “He will not call again 
Unless he is asked,” sat the little brown wren. 
If the bluebirds had her courage and hot, 
quick temper, they would never let the sparrows 
drive them away from their boxes. Unfor- 
tunately a hole large enough to admit a blue- 
*From “Boy’s Book of Rhyme,” by Clinton Scollard 
