Esma stamped her foot and threw her basket at them, say- — 
- ing, “They shall not take his house away from him if he : 
wants it for his second brood,” away they skimmed over — 
the orchard trees. As she started again on her errand, back — 
they came with open mouths, on wings that dipped and — 
turned about the wren, until he fled for safety to his own 
mulberry tree, from which he hurled maledictions and 
defiance at them. me ie : 
| Arming herself with two peeks of the nada Esma | 
stood guard, striking them together, until some one relieved ~ 
her. For several hours, turns had to be taken to prevent ’ 
that vagrant band of swallows from taking possession of 4 
the wren boxes. | 
Nothing that was done. a uoed the wren, as he | 
seemed to realize that he had friends to help him in his fight 
for his home; and he kept pealing forth his ‘‘Dear! Dear! 
How dare you do a thing like this!” until the valley echoed. | 
He scarcely takes time to snatch at an insect in his staunch © 
_ defense of his rights. If his little wife does not soon finish 
feeding her band of fledgelings, he will wear out his 
- strength, as well as his voice. Even now his song ends with © 
a sharp squeak that was not there when, with drooping tail 
and weary wings, he spent almost his full time in assisting 
her to find insects enough to feed their big family of six. | 
However, when Betty and Becky stopped over this” 
afternoon on their auto trip from Seattle to San Diego, he 
found time to oversee a picture which was taken on 
Edward’s fingers. All day had been heard the voice of 
baby Black-Headed Grosbeaks calling ‘“We-You,” like young | 
kittens that had not yet opened their eyes, but, although — 
observers thought that every branch of the big oak, from 
which the sounds appeared to come, had been began no 
Rerapse of the infants had been seen. ~~ = 
_ As the family sat on the grass, laughing « or - erying Over 
the home news the friends were telling, “Ma Grosbeak’s” 
- actions called their attention. Her fat tan body, her black 
180 
