f 
had a tomer’ all his own, ag could say. more apnea 
things in a second than any other atom ever heard of his 
size. The very quality of his voice changed on such 
occasions, and took on such a raucous tone that one feared 
for the lining of the small throat; but enemies fled before 
its grating and his fearless attacks. He knew his friends, 
however, for he paid no unpleasant attentions to ve old dog - 
that helped him guard. the premises. | | 
- In gpite of his chivalry and bravery, ete came a day 
when Sammy and his last family disappeared. His home 
was found destroyed, and parts of their feathers strewn — 
about hinted that the wrens had been victims of an un- 
licensed cat. Then the owner of the place was heard to say, | 
“Now I am wiling to sell this cottage, for it is not the same 
— to me since Sammy’s music can no longer be heard.” 
The Western Winter Wren will sometimes accept man s oa 
bounty in stormy seasons, although he likes to make his 
home in the depths of the heaviest forests, miles from any _ oo 
cat-infested region. There he will suddenly appear as a 
brown mite of a bird, clutching the bark of the greatest 
_ giant, whose ruddy spots give him a protective disappear- _ 
ance, except when he moves. Yet, in times of stress, he has _ 
been seen coming out in the morning, regularly, from the 
coil of a rolled awning, or from the shelter of an overturned oe 
window box, but he likes better the hada ccd ie from sea a 
level to the limit of trees. o 
:. To those who love the hidden ete? the Gc : A 
_ Winter Wren might give perpetual pleasure. No other bird _ 
could be more often heard, or met in wildernesses as he 
threads the mazes of shadowy undergrowth. The lumber- > 
- jack with a keen ear, the surveyor with an eye that catches | 
motion, the mountaineer with a discerning spirit, well know wee 
that he explores with them. They have seen him balancing 
his bit of a body like a very troll at the entrance of adark | 
cavity, which reaches into the heart of a massive tree, of Gy 
watched him at his morning toilet in a babbling brook, which __ 
> 
