The morning call., 1893-01-15
THEY GAzED UPON ONE ANOTHER.

means to provoke Mr.. B. Wren's jealousy
O1iy the males sing ii, the females indulg-
Ing in the tee-iee-tee finale
The lord and master Of my little domain
roasted on the high Top of my bedstead, and
With the first streak of dawn was off for that
early worm Of ancient history. The sitter
would become impatient and rustic rest
lessiy on her eggs waiting for the cry from
the housetop, which meant to her the well
come Jingle Of the breakfast bell
One morning / ran the gamut to note
the effect; 1t was rather startling. In came
the lord and master, his feathers Tuffled,
and calculating his tee-tee-tPes rapidly made
at once for the nest and picked his wife's
little head. This unmerited punishment
provoked an animated fight. which proved
that Mrs. Wren could pull feathers and use
her tongue as effectively as her human
sisters, for the jeal0us husband flew from
her, sorry enough to have commenced the
nghi, which she was In no mood to stop,
now that her righteous ire was aroused.
To distract her attention ran the gamut
again and again. Both eyed ne anxiously,
ana new over mo and into every nook to
discover the interl0per finally going their
separate ways with apparent uneasiness
that was rot quenched until midday.
Often aiterward l entertained myself
with these jealous quarrels. for the male
never found out that ii was not another
feathered admirer of his mate charming his
around
When the babies left their nest it was to
perch on my bedstead. Then the mother
rounded of the business by tearing the nest
70 pieces TO throw on the floor BIT by bit
To facilitate matters | took the box with re-
naming contents and threw il into the yard
Inc bird hoped to the floor and for a mo-
ment looked in silent ouisbment at the
wreck, then fastened back 10 the plate and
went entirely around the four sides OF the
room, throwing everything down. cord,
orange peel, buttons, spo0ls, seeds (Which |
had put there ont Of the way that her bill
was strong enough to manage. II / re-
placed anything she had it on the floor
again as soon as my hands had left il.
Another curious trait of the wIens, from
Oldest to youngest, was TO enter and leave
the honss through the rear gap of the open
door, which was scarcely broader than they
Once in while they would hop around on
the floor and look out the greater opening
but the wide, wide world seemed overpow-
eringly great for them through this vista
They would turn their backs on it, hop be-
hind the door again and leave through the
chink. Not one Of the five ever flew in or
out the door or windows.
never knew what became of my wrens.
Within the house Little Mother, my pet
wildcat, never touched them, as talked to
her very seriously one day, explaining that
they were part OF our family. but kindly
and atfeetiOnate even as she was with them
inside L suspicion she knew more of their
disappearance thanL Suddenly their songs
ceased, and never again did pair of wrens
come to spend their honeymoon with me.
Birds of all eOlors and sizes are plentiful
IN the Fresno foothills. Rarely. some that
are with us one season disappear another
season. Last year a large blarkbrd made
its debut. Once, when sitting.in my arbor,
shower OF gold fell from the dense foliage
OF majestic oak. The tall, dry, wild oats
bore bognteous load of nuggets, which
scarce swayed the oats, so light were they,
for each nugget proved a California canary
the smallest bird | have seen up here.
When the parent birds built their nests was
mystery; where the myriads of progeny
they turned out OF home went to is equally
mystery. They twittered in rebellion as
the mother bird dropped them from the
tree, but they did not sing
Excepting linnets and meadow larks
there are no singers here. The larks have
not only the same m0notSnOus song of the
meadow larks Of tae plains, but several
Others which closely resemble snatches Of
human song. leading one to wonder If the
liquid songster Is not initiative. Each year
ADDS new air TO his repertoire.
All OF them are in the key of E major-as
are, curiously enough, the measures or
cries OF all the birds here-aDd all in the
same tempo and without slurring having a
peculiar gliding movement.
Ihe following ire the leading measures.
which are frequently ornamented with
tTiplets: