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an hour at a time, carefully and actively searching for small Cater pillars and winged insects, amidst the white blossoms of the shady apple tree, and so inoffensive and unsuspicious is the little warbler, that he pursues, without alarm, his busy occupation, as the spectator, within a few feet of him, watches at the foot of the tree. Early in October they are seen in small numbers roving restlessly through the forest, preparatory to their departure for the South.

Though the greater part of the species probably proceed farther north to rear their young, a few spend the summer in the Middle and Northern States; but, from their timorous and retiring habits, it is not easy to trace out their retreats at the period of breeding.

THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN.

The head and upper part of the body of this Wren, are of a deep

THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN.

reddish brown: above each eye there is a stroke of white: the back, and the coverts of the wings and tail, are marked with slender transverse black lines: the quill-feathers with bars of black and red. The throat is of a yellowish white. The belly and sides are crossed with narrow dusky and pale reddish-brown lines. The tail is crossed with dusky bars.

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The song of this beautiful little bird, the smallest of all the British feathered race, is extremely delicate and pleasing. It is not much unlike, but it is not quite so loud as, that of the Common Wren. The Goldencrested Wren may be easily known in winter by its shrill squeak, somewhat resembling the crinking of a Grasshopper. Except in the frosts, it continues its song during the whole year. These birds are very agile: they are almost continually in motion, fluttering from branch to brauch, creeping on all sides of the trees, clinging to them in every situation, and often hanging with their backs downward, in the manner of the Titmice.

Their food consists chiefly of minute insects, which they find in the crevices of the bark of trees, or catch nimbly on the wing. They also eat the eggs of insects, small worms, and various kind of seeds. They delight to frequent the largest trees, such as oaks, elms, and firs.

The nest of the Golden-crested Wren is an interesting fabric. It somewhat resembles that of the Chaffinch; and is frequently formed amongst the leaves at the tip of a branch of a fir-tree, where it swings about in high winds, like a pendulum. It is oval, very deep,

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and has a small hole near the middle, for the ingress and egress of the bird. The materials composing its exterior are different species of moss; and within, it is lined with wool, hair, and feathers. The. female lays from ten to eighteen eggs, and not unusually brings up as many young-oucs. "It may be ranked among those daily miracles of which we take no notice, that this bird should feed so great a number as this without passing over one, and that also in utter darkness." The eggs are, in size, scarcely larger than peas, and are of a white color, sprinkled with small dull spots.

These birds are found in various parts of Europe, Asia, and America. They are said to bear well every change of temperature, from the greatest degree of heat to that of the severest cold. They continue with us during the whole year: but Mr. Pennant states that they cross annually from the Orkneys to the Shetland islands, where they breed, and from which they return before the winter. This is a long flight (sixty miles) for so small a bird.

THE WILLOW-WREN.

This bird is somewhat larger than the Common Wren. The upper parts of the body are of a pale olive-green; the under parts are pale yellow, and a streak of yellow passes over the eyes. The wings and tail are brown, edged with yellowish green; and the legs are yellowish.

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THE WILLOW-WREN.

The Willow Wren is not uncommon in many parts of England. It is migratory, visiting there usually about the middle of April, and taking its departure towards the end of September. The females construct their nests in holes at the roots of trees, in hollows of dry banks and other similar places. These are round, and not unlike the nest of the Wren. The eggs are dusky white, marked with reddish spots; and are five in number.

A Willow-Wren had built in a bank of one of the fields of Mr. White, near Selborne. This bird a friend and himself observed, as she sat in her nest; but they were particularly careful not to disturb her, though she eyed them with some degree of jealousy. Some days afterwards, as they passed the same way, they were desirous of remarking how the brood went on; but no nest could be found, till Mr. White happened to take up a large bundle of long green moss, which had been thrown as it were carelessly over the nest, in order to mislead the eye of any impertinent obtruder.

The Willow-Wren may justly be termed the Nightingale of the northern snowy countries of Europe. It settles on the most lofty branches of the birch-trees, and makes the air resound with its bold and melodious song.

THE AMERICAN HOUSE-WREN.

This lively, cheerful, capricious, and well known little minstrel, says Nuttall, is only a summer resident in the United States. Its northern

migrations extend to Labrador. But it resides and rears its, young principally in the Middle States. My friend, Mr. Say, also observed this species near Pembino, beyond the sources of the Mississippi, in the Western wilderness of the 49th degree of latitude. It is likewise said to be an inhabitant of Surinam within the tropics, where its delightful melody has gained it the nickname of the Nightingale. This region, or the intermediate country of Mexico, is probably the winter quarters of our domestic favorite. In Louisiana it is unknown even as a transient visitor, migrating apparently to the east of the Mississippi, and sedulously avoiding the region generally inhabited by the Carolina Wren. It is a matter of surprise how this, and some other species, with wings so short and a flight so fluttering, are ever capable of arriving and returning from such distant countries. At any rate, come from where he may, he makes his appearance in the middle States about the 12th or 15th of April, and is seen in New England in the latter end of that month or by the beginning of May. They take their departure for the South towards the close of September, or early in October, and are not known to winter within the limits of the Union.

AMERICAN HOUSE-WREN.

Some time in the early part of May, our little social visitor enters actively into the cares as well as pleasures which preside instinctively over the fiat of propagation. His nest, from preference, near the house, is placed beneath the eaves, in some remote corner under a shed, outhouse, barn, or in a hollow orchard tree; also in the deserted cell of the Woodpecker, and, when provided with the convenience, in a wooden box along with the Martins and Blue-birds. He will make his nest even in an old hat, nailed up, and perforated with a hole for entrance, or the skull of an Ox stuck upon a pole; and Audubon saw one deposited in the pocket of a broken down carriage. So pertinacious is the House Wren in thus claiming the convenience and protection of human society, that according to Wilson, an instance once

THE MOCKING WREN-MARSH WREN.

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occurred where a nest was made in the sleeve of a mower's coat, which, in the month of June, was hung up accidentally for two or three days in a shed near a barn.

THE CAROLINA, OR MOCKING WREN.

THIS remarkable, mimicking, and Musical Wren, says Nuttall, is a constant resident in the Southern States, from Virginia to Florida, but is rarely seen at any season north of the line of Maryland or Delaware, though, attracted by the great river courses, they are abundant from Pittsburg to New Orleans. A few individuals stray, in the course of the spring, as far as the line of New York, and appear in New Jersey and the vicinity of Philadelphia early in the month of May. On the 17th of April, returning from a Southern tour of great extent, I again recognised my old and pleasing acquaintance, by his usual note, near Chester, on the Delaware, where, I have little doubt, a few remain and pass the summer, retiring to the South only as the weather becomes inclement. On the banks of the Patapsco, near Baltimore, their song is still heard to the close of November. According to Audubon, the nest of this bird is usually placed in a hole in some low and decayed tree, or in a fence post; sometimes also in a stable, barn, or out-house. The materials employed are hay, dry grass, and leaves, for the outer part; with a lining of horse-hair, or the capillary dry fibres of the Long-moss (Tillandsia. Sometimes the nest is five or six inches deep, but, with the usual precaution of the family, so narrow in the entrance as only to admit of one of the birds at a time. The eggs, five to eight, are oval, and greyish-white, spotted with reddish-brown. Like the common species, an individual (probably one of the young birds) has been observed to roost for a time in an old Wood-Thrush's nest which had been filled with fallen leaves. They are so prolific as to raise two, and sometimes three broods in a season.

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THE MOCKING-WREN.

SHORT-BILLED MARSH-WREN.

THIS amusing and not unmusical little species inhabits the lowest marshy meadows, but does not frequent the reed-flats. It never visits cultivated grounds, and is at all times shy, timid, and suspicious. arrives in Massachusetts about the close of the first week in May, and

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retires to the South by the middle of September at farthest, probably by night, as it is never seen in progress, so that its northern residence is only prolonged about four months. In winter they are seen from South Carolina to Texas.

The nest of the Short-Billed Marsh-Wren is made wholly of dry, or

SHORT-BIBLED MARSH-WREN.

partly green sedge, bent usually from the top of the grassy tuft in which the fabric is situated. With much ingenuity and labor these simple materials are loosely entwined together into a spherical form, with a small and rather obscure entrance left in the side; a thin lining is sometimes added to the whole, of the linty fibres of the silk weed, or some other similar material. The eggs, pure white, and des

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titute of spots, are probably from six to eight. In a nest containing seven eggs, there were three of them larger than the rest, and perfectly fresh, while the four smaller were far advanced towards hatching; from this circumstance we may fairly infer that two different individuals had laid in the same nest: a circumstance more common among wild birds than is generally imagined. This is also the more remarkable, as the male of this species, like many other Wrens, is much employed in making nests, of which not more than one in three or four are ever occupied by the females!

THE TAILOR-BIRD.

This, like the last two, is a very small species, measuring scarcely more than three inches in length.

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RD'S NEST.

It is a native of India.

The nest of the Tailor-bird is a very remarkable production. Its exterior is constructed of two leaves; the one generally dead, which the bird fixes, at the end of some branch, to the side of a living one, by sewing both together with little filaments, in the manner of a pouch or purse, and open at the top. In this operation the bill of the bird serves as a needle. Sometimes, instead of a dead leaf and a living one, two living leaves are sowed together; and, thus connected they seem rather the work of human art than of an uninstructed animal. After the operation of sewing is finished, the cavity is

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