HOUSE WREN. 
'187 
of tone, and execution, it is far superior, as well as the 
bird is in size, figure, and elegance of markings, to the 
European one. Its manners are also different ; its 
sociability greater. It is no underground inhabitant ; 
its nest is differently constructed, the number of its eggs 
fewer; it is also migratory; and has the tail and bill 
much longer. Its food is insects and caterpillars, and, 
while supplying the wants of its young, it destroys, on 
a moderate calculation, many hundreds a-day, and 
greatly circumscribes the ravages of these vermin. It 
is a bold and insolent bird against those of the titmouse 
or woodpecker kind that venture to build within its 
jurisdiction ; attacking them without hesitation, though 
twice its size, and generally forcing them to decamp. 
Even the bluebird, who claims an equal, and sort of 
hereditary right to the box in the garden, when attacked 
by this little impertinent, soon relinquishes the contest, 
the mild placidness of his disposition not being a match 
for the fiery impetuosity of his little antagonist. With 
those of his own species who settle and build near him, 
he has frequent squabbles ; and when their respective 
females are sitting, each strains his whole powers of song 
to excel the other. When the young are hatched, the 
hurry and press of business leave no time for disputing, 
so true it is that idleness is the mother of mischief. 
These birds are not confined to the country ; they are to 
be heard on the tops of the houses in the most central 
parts of our cities, singing with great energy. Scarce 
a house or cottage in the country is without at least a 
pair of them, and sometimes two ; but unless where 
there is a large garden, orchard, and numerous out~ 
houses, it is not often the case that more than one pair 
reside near the same spot, owing to their party disputes 
and jealousies. It has been said, by a friend to this 
little bird, that “ the esculent vegetables of a whole 
garden may, perhaps, be preserved from the depredations 
of different species of insects, by ten or fifteen pair of 
these small birds * and probably they might, were the 
* Barton’s Fragments, part i, p. 22. 
