said she, with fine sarcasm, “your heart flew into your bill did it? Well, let me say, Mr. Wren, that if it had been my mother in distress, father at the first note of warning, would have flown to her assistance with his heart in his claws. He kept them well sharpened for just such occasions, and woe to any enemy he found prowling about his premises.”

“Oh, indeed!” said Mr. Wren, “I presume he would have attacked Bridget over there, and the whole family. To hear you talk, Mrs. Wren, one would think your father was a whole host in himself.”

“And so he was,” said she, loftily, “I have seen him attack a Bluebird and a Martin at the same time and put them both to flight. An Owl had no terrors for him, and as for squirrels, why——” Mrs. Wren raised her wings and shrugged her shoulders in a very Frenchy and wholly contemptuous manner.

“I’m a peace-loving sort of a fellow, that you know, Mrs. Wren, deploring the reputation our tribe has so justly earned for fighting, and scolding, and jeering at everything and everybody. Indeed they go so far as to say we trust no one, not even our kindred. But mark me, Mrs. Wren, mark me, I say! Should any rascally Jay, neighbor or not, ever dare approach that tin pot over yonder, or ever alight on the roof of the porch, I’ll, I’ll——” Mr. Wren fairly snorted in his anger, and standing on one foot, doubled up the toes of the other and struck it defiantly at the imaginary foe.

“Oh, I dare say!” tauntingly said Mrs. Wren, “you are the sort of fellow that I heard little Dorothy reading about the other day. You would fight and run away, Mr. Wren, that you might live to fight another day.”

Mr. Wren lifted one foot and scratched himself meditatively behind the ear.

“Good, very good, indeed, my dear! It must have been a pretty wise chap that wrote that.” And Mr. Wren, who seemed to find the idea very amusing, laughed until the tears stood in his eyes.

Mrs. Wren smoothed her ruffled feathers and smiled too.

“Tut, tut, Jenny,” said the good-natured fellow, “what is the use of us newly married folk quarreling in this fashion. Think how joyous we were less than one short hour ago. Come, my dear, the family have all left the porch, save Emmett. Let us fly over there and take a look at our treasure.” And Mrs. Wren, entirely restored to good humor, flirted her tail over her back, hopped about a little in a coquettish manner, then spread her wings, and off they flew together.

Mrs. Wren the next day deposited another egg, and the next, and the next, till six little speckled beauties lay huddled together in the cosy nest.

“Exactly the number of our landlord’s family,” said she, fluffing her feathers and gathering the eggs under her in that truly delightful fashion common to all mother birds. “I am so glad. I was greatly puzzled to know what names we should have given the babies had there been more than six.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” admitted Mr. Wren, who in his joy had been treating his mate to one of his fine wooing songs, and at length coaxed her from the nest, “but I dare say we would have named them after some of our relatives.”

“Why, of course,” assented Mrs. Wren, “I certainly would have named one after my dear, brave papa. Mrs. John Wren says that boys named after a great personage generally develop all the qualities of that person.”

“Oh, indeed!” sniffed Mr. Wren, “that was the reason she named one of her numerous brood last year after our rascally neighbor, Mr. Jay, I presume. Certainly the youngster turned out as great a rascal as the one he was named after.”

Mrs. Wren’s head feathers stood on end at once.

“For the life of me,” she said tartly, “I cannot see why you always fly into a passion, Mr. Wren, whenever I mention dear papa, or Mrs. John, or in fact any of my relatives. Indeed—but sh-sh! There’s one of our neighbors coming this way. I verily believe it is, oh yes, it is, it is——” and Mrs. Wren wrung her toes, and cried cheet, cheet, cheet, and dee, dee, dee! in a truly anxious and alarming manner.

[to be continued.]

SUMMARY.

Page 46.

LEAST BITTERN.—Botaurus exilis.

Range—Temperate North America, from the British Provinces to the West Indies and South America.

Nest—In the thick rushes, along the edge of the water, bending down the tops of water grass and plaiting it into a snug little nest, about two or three feet above the water.

Eggs—Three or five, pale bluish or greenish-white.

Page 50.

BALDPATE.—Anas americana.

Range—North America from the Arctic ocean south to Guatemala and Cuba.

Nest—On the ground in marshes, of grass and weeds, neatly arranged and nicely hollowed; usually lined with the down and feathers from its own breast.

Eggs—Eight to twelve, of pale buff.

Page 54.

PURPLE FINCH.—Carpodacus purpureus. Other names: “Purple Grosbeak,” “Crimson Finch,” “Linnet.”

Range—Eastern North America, breeding from Northern United States northward.

Nest—In evergreens or orchard trees, at a moderate distance from the ground. Composed of weed-stalks, bark-strips, rootlets, grasses, all kinds of vegetable fibres, and lined with hairs.

Eggs—Four or five, of a dull green, spotted with very dark brown, chiefly about the larger end.

Page 58.

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER.—Melanerpes carolinus. Other name: “Zebra Bird.”

Range—Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains, south to Florida and Central Texas.

Nest—In holes in decayed trees, twenty or thirty feet from the ground.

Eggs—Four or six, glossy white.

Page 63.

SAW-WHET OWL.—Nyctale acadica. Other name: “Acadian Owl.”

Range—Whole of North America; breeding from middle United States northward.

Nest—In holes, trees, or hollow trunks.

Eggs—Four to seven, white.

Page 67.

BLACK SWAN.—Cygnus atratus.

Range—Australia.

Nest—On a tussock entirely surrounded by water.

Eggs—Two to five.

Page 71.

SNOWY PLOVER.—Aegialitis nivosa.

Range—Western North America, south to Mexico in winter, both coasts of Central America, and in western South America to Chile.

Nest—On the ground.

Eggs—Three, ground color, pale buff or clay color, marked with blackish-brown spots, small splashes and fine dots.

Page 75.

LESSER PRAIRIE HEN.—Tympanuchus pallidicinctus.

Range—Eastern edge of the Great Plains, from western and probably southern Texas northward through Indian Territory to Kansas.

Nest—On the ground in thick prairie grass, and at the foot of bushes on the barren ground; a