426 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
ing the sultry noon of the summer’s day when most of 
the feathered songsters seek repose and shelter from the 
heat. His lively and querulous ditty, is however still 
accompanied by the slower measured, pathetic chant of 
the Red-eyed Flycatcher, the meandering, tender war- 
ble of the Musical Vireo, or the occasional loud mim- 
icry of the Cat-bird ; the whole forming an aerial, 
almost celestial concert, which never tires the ear. 
Though the general performance of our Wren bears 
no inconsiderable resemblance to that of the Euro- 
pean species, yet its voice is louder and its execution 
much more varied and delightful. It is rather a bold 
and insolent intruder upon those birds, who reside near 
it, or claim the same accommodation. It frequently 
causes the mild Blue-bird or the Martin to relinquish 
their hereditary claims to the garden box, and has been 
accused also of sucking their eggs. Nor is he any bet- 
ter contented with neighbours of his own fraternity who 
settle near him, keeping up frequent squabbles, like 
other little busy bodies, who are never happy but in mis- 
chief ; so that upon the whole, though we may justly ad- 
mire the fine talents of this petulant domestic, he is, 
like many other actors, merely a good performer. He 
is still upon the whole a real friend to the farmer and 
horticulturist, by the number of injurious insects and 
their destructive larvae on which both him and his numer- 
ous family subsist. Bold and fearless, seeking out every 
advantageous association, and making up in activity 
what he may lack in strength, he does not confine his 
visits to the cottage or the country, but may often be 
heard on the tops of houses, even in the midst of the city, 
warbling with his usual energy. 
