Bird lore - Project Puffin

248 Bird - Lore
twigs, while she carried horse-hair, grass-
blades and rootlets. Jimmy sang gaily
from daylight till darkness. His favorite
perch was the topmost peak of the lightning-rod.
Soon four hungry baby Wrens
hatched out of the six speckled eggs, and
then work began in earnest in our gardens,
the parent birds cleaning out every bug
and worm, sometimes peering under the
cucumber leaves for striped beetles, next
taking a rag-carpet worm from the parsley
or carrots, then a slug from the rosebush,
or a young grasshopper, with occasionally
a daddy-long-legs for variety. One morn-
ing we discovered a colony of brown larvae
devouring the sweet pea vines. Then
Elinor noticed the Wrens constantly
making trips from the pea vines to the
Wren house with their beaks full of wriggling
brown worms. By night there was
not a worm to be found. One day a pair
of wicked House Sparrows decided to kill
the Wrens and confiscate their home.
The brave little birds fought desperately,
but they were not a match for their big
antagonists. Jenny's tail was completely
pulled out in the battle, and Jimmy so
bady hurt that he disappeared for several
days. Then poor little Jenny was left
alone to feed them all, and perhaps carried
food to Jimmy too. She never seemed to
rest or eat, but constantly carried worms
to the never-satisfied babies.
Something desperate had to be done,
or the faithful mother would be killed and
her little family left to starve. So Elinor
stood guard with a broom, while I hunted
the village for a boy with a rifle. While
the Sparrows were being shot, Jenny continued
her trips, darting in and out, and
seemed to realize fully that it was being
done for her protection.
Two days later Jimmy appeared with a
worm, but for some time was too weak to
make the flight to the box. In due time
four cute little birds peeped out of the
doorway, and one by one sailed out into
the big world.
For a month they remained in our
gardens, a happy little family, and called
to me as I worked among the vegetables
and flowers. But one day, alas ! they all
—
soared away to sunnier skies. Next spring
there will be two homes waiting under the
eaves for our little friends.
There is nothing so valuable to a gardener,
for they live entirely on worms and
insects, and love the companionship of
man. Mrs. Lena Waite, Rochester, Wis.
A Record Bird Census
For comparison with Mr. Gilbert H.
Grosvenor's article in Bird-Lore for
April, 1916, I append the results of a
census made in 1904 on my father's place
in Nottinghamshire, England.
He is a keen naturalist and has made
his estates a sanctuary for birds for many
years; not even the much-abused House
Sparrow is molested—and there are a
great number of them there at all times.
There is a lake close to the house which is
frequented by several species of water-
fowl; on the other side of the house is a
lawn on which grow several large beech
trees, and again near the house are shrub-
beries of laurel, rhododendron, and other
ornamental shrubs. The house is covered
with ivy, jasmine, roses, etc., so you see
there is a variety of nesting-sites for
different species. He has boxes for the
different birds in every suitable place;
there being no less than 76 Starling boxes
alone in the beech trees.
We had a naturalist friend with us on
a visit. She was greatly struck by the
number of birds about the house, and
asked if we had any idea how many pairs
were nesting in the immediate vicinity.
We really had no idea, and, our curiosity
being aroused, determined to take a
census of the bird population on an acre
with the house as a central point. This
acre took in the beech trees, part of the
pond with one island, a block of shrubs,
and a corner of the kitchen garden. On this
block were found the following birds nesting;
the ones using artificial boxes I have
marked with an asterisk (*). pairs
*Starling 74
*Stock Dove 2
Turtle Dove i
Wood Pigeon i