Evening star., 1948-08-16
This and That
By Charles Z. Trace,vell

What is that loud voice in the garden?
Bless its soul, nothing larger than the house
wren, next to the humingbird the smallest we
have.
He is at it all day long, bubbling out his song
untn at times he gets on the nerves of world
weary people.
1t Is so easy to be weary today, not only of
life, in general, but of life widespread. Some
one or some group of some ones is always kick
ing up fuss.
waves, or wrong food habits. Perhaps people
eat too much sugar and starch as the doctor
down South said
The wren knows nothing of it.
Food lifts Russians, political bosses, COM
munsm, democracy ideologies-
These are just SO much nothing to Old Man
Wren.
He has pert TAIL and very loud voice and
he is not always faithful to his mate, it is
said, but he manages to sing all day long in
the summer garden
Some fussy humans say his song is too loud,
too much like a waterfall and a not particu-
iarly pleasant sounding water fall, at that.
They assert that he should stay down where
ne belongs, not come to Washington and VIZ
cinity to wake them up early in the morning.
FOLK are always saying such things, most of
which they do not mean at ALL They simply
are suffering from weariness, and want to take
1t out on something
The house wren Is inches long.
He goes by many common names. such as
Drown wren, common wren, wood wren stump
wren, short-tailed house wren, Jenny Wren
HIS upper parts are brown, the under parts
white and gray-brown.
The bill is shorter than the head, straight
or slightly curved, and tapering down
The wings may be said to be moderate
IN length, and rounded; the tail, about the
length of wings, the feather narrow.
The outstanding-no pun intended-feature
of the wren tail is its tilted characteristic.
The way 1t holds its tail seems more i'm.
portant than the tail itself.
Jenny likes to select hole in 4 tree in
an old orchard
Since there are not so many orchards, at
least hereabout, she will nest almost any,
where.
Neat bird houses, sleeves of coats left on
porches, under caves, in old cans
She Is not particular. except when her
mate tries to tell her where to TO-
Then she becomes very selectiye. but YOU
may be sure that it is not the same selection
Johnny Wren makes
She is rather mean, at times, puncturing
the eggs Of rivals
Her mate makes up for that by going away
with some other wren, then later in the
season returning as If nothing had happened.
She lays from six to eight eggs, white,
spotted, but sometimes a very delicate pale
pink, and clear.
Both parents have a habit of seeming to
desert the nest If they think any one is
looking at them
So it is not good policy, as a general thing.
to disturb wren nest, though no parent birds
may be seen around.
They probably are huddled in a tree some
where close, being as quiet as mice, hoping
that you will 90 away.
Even when you retreat to the house. the
parents will not come back immediately. II
may take as long as an hour, or several
hours, for them to return This seems to be
natures way Of throwing enemies of the
scent.
Once We were about to give nest of wren
eggs away to q school teacher, who said she
would like to show them to her class, when
suddenly We saw the mother wren drop down
out OF q tree, for the first time in ut least
"A hours, or 50 We thought
She had just been looking, all the time
had watched every move, and listened care
fully, no doubt, to the conversation about
giving her eggs away.
Fortunately for her and the five fine Wrens
she raised, she was seen in time That time
she came near to overplaying her hand.