The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1886-06-18
THE KING OF BIRDS.
How the Proud Title Was Earned-Stories
of the Wren.

How the Proud Title Was Earned-Stories
of the Wren.
Now, you think I am going to tell
you about the eagle. Confess that you
do! "Of course!' you say. ''Eyery
body knows that the eagle is the King
of birds. Do you think we are duncesp"
No, don't think you are ounces;
but perhaps there may still be few
things that you do not know, though,
of course, it is only because
you have not had time to
learn them. And one of these
few things is that, according to ancient
story, the King of all birds is not the
mighty eagle, but-the wrem!-the
tiny, chattering, brown wren, who
builds his pretty, little, round nest in
hedgerows and hayricks. l will tell
you the story as it was told by a
famous writer, many hundreds OF
years ago, and then you may believe
it, or not, just as you like.
Once upon time, then, all the birds
met together to choose a King, and
they decided that the one who could
soar the highest should be ruler over
I'LL blC lOaIhVLCo tllbCp. W piiOJ CO.
sprang into the air, hawk and heron,
swallow and skylark, and every bird that
flies; up, up, up, till their wings were
weary and their hearts faint. But far
| above all the rest flew the mighty
eagle, his broad wings bearing him up
like sails. When the other birds
paused, exhausted, he alone scared on
ward and upward; till at length, rest
ing on his outspread wings, at a dizzy
height he screamed in triumph: sc
birds, behold your Kingr'
.sBehold him, indeed!'' cried a tiny
voice at his ear. s'But not in you
clumsy fellow!'' And the wren, who
had been perched all the while, unseer
and unnoticed, on the eagles shoulder
now boldly took flight, and twittee
and chirped from still greater height
while the weary eagle, unable to soa
higher, beat his broad wings in ange,
and disappointment. So the wren wa
proclaimed King of all birds, and re
ma.ls so to this day; and it is a YER
pretty story, whether you believe it o
not.
Now, let us look at this saucy littl
King, and see what he is like. He
about four inches long, of a rich rec
dish-brown color; and he has sauc
little cocked-up tail, and KNOWN
black eyes, and a very sweet voice
which says very impudent thing
He is always gay and CHEEKY, an
sings as merrily on cold day as on
warm one; this is good point in an
King. He builds his own palace, an
very fine one it is for its size, bein
made very neatly of leaves, moss an
grass, and having always a dom
which covers it completely, the opel
ing of the nest being always at tt
, side. King Wren prefers this dome
} nest to any other; first, because it
more lofty, and, second, becau
it protects the royal eggs from co
and rain. But sometimes he choos
: the strangest place for his nest.
wren's nest has been found in the boz
of a dead hawk, which had been kilt
p and nailed to the side OF barn,
frighten other hawks.
r Once farmer had killed calf, al
hung its body on tree. cit seems
9 singular thing to hang a calf on tire
i as if he were horse-thief; but that
q the way / heard the story.) Sol
i days after, when the farmer cut
calf down in order to cut it up,
found a wren's nest in its thro
Again, / have heard of little Que
l. Wren, who made her nest inside
pump, and went in and out throu
1t the spout to attend to her natural {
ties. ssWhat did she do when I'll
were pumping waterP" Why, | 81
t. pose she waited until they stopp'
,e don't youp At tleast that's what l shol
nt have done in her case. When win
OF comes the little wrens are put to all Sc
of shifts to keep themselves wal
eY Sometimes, in very cold weather, I'll
may be found all buddled toget
in heaps, six or seven of them unit
looking like masses of soft bro
- feathers Sometimes they get
id their summer nests, the whole fam
q. parents and children, crowding
the little hollow under the dome.
is Once a fine lady, who was very Fl
of birds, and used to scatter crui
for them in her garden every day
tie cold weather, happened to see p;
of wrens go to bed; and this is
they did it. They gathered toget
IL, on large branch of tree, about
,er inches above which grew ano
I'll branch. On the lower branch
ch wrens packed themselves comfort
together, three or four deep, the
most bird always having his
me brown back pressed against the VI
branch, as if to keep the whole
Of steady. The lady pitied the
shiveKing little creatures, and the
ut day she nailed to the branch so
on box, lined with flannel, with a
nut small round hole by way of a .
1n' When the wrens came to go to
ice they examined the box, and
an seemed to understand all about it,
they crowded in eagerly. iostling