etic ore sles OuNe Bry BTN 41 
Down with the House Wren Boxes’ 
By ALTHEA R. SHERMAN 
F, when a felon is on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors he 
if is confronted by numerous eye-witnesses, who are trustworthy and 
fully competent to testify, if by their evidence it is proved that for 
upward of twenty-five years he has been seen committing the most 
flagrant crimes against his neighbors; if the depositions of these ex- 
pert witnesses have been spread upon the public records and printed 
in volumes accessible to every one, it would appear that the public 
ought to demand for the good of our country that the felon be sen- 
tenced, and that the sentence be executed without dangerous delay. 
In the case of the people of North America versus the House Wren 
together with his subspecies the Western House Wren the eye-witness 
of his crimes are numerous, trustworthy, and exceedingly competent; 
among them are men, who rank with our most eminent ornithologists: 
men whose professional business during many years has been the careful 
study of birds. Besides these there are many other men and women less 
famous, but equally trustworthy as witnesses, who from the Atlantic 
seaboard to the Pacific coast and from the Gulf states to the farthest 
north range of the House Wren in Canada have made numerous 
statements regarding this species. Their observations cover a period of 
more than a quarter of a century and have been published in various 
ornithological books and magazines, which are open to the examination 
of all. 
In this prosecution the public must be jury, judge and executioner 
and, most unfortunately, a large part of the public is unfitted to act 
in any of these capacities: as jurymen, because they have already 
formed an opinion; this opinion is not based on any real knowledge on 
the subject, either first-hand or otherwise, but having a wren-box on 
their narrow village lot they refuse to listen to the warnings of those 
who have seen the House Wren at his nefarious work. They are fond 
of their bird and are angry when the truth is spoken about it; they 
act precisely like the parents of vicious children, refusing to believe 
the evil things their darlings do. They did not see the rattlesnake 
strike its fangs into the tender flesh of the little child that died last 
summer, yet the dying child was found and the rattlesnake near it: 
good enough circumstantial evidence for them was this, but the tes- 
timony of most trustworthy and competent witnesses of the evil done © 
by the House Wren they flout and vilify. Neither are they fitted to 
act as judges. A judge in law must have knowledge of the literature 
*Reprinted from The Wilson Bulletin, March, 1925. 
