THE WREN OF ST KILDA 293 



tion. The material upon which it is based is to be found 

 in the bird collections of the Royal Scottish Museum. 



Speaking generally, the St Kilda Wren is decidedly 

 larger in size and more stoutly built than the other Wrens 

 found in the British Isles, and its foot is larger in pro- 

 portion. Its plumage is conspicuously paler, and is more 

 strongly barred on both the upper and under surfaces of the 

 body. 



Adult in autumn plumage. — The adult birds in their 

 newly assumed autumn dress — the dress to be worn an 

 entire year — have the chin, throat, breast, and upper part of 

 the abdomen pure white, or dull mealy white slightly tinged 

 with buff. The lower abdomen, flanks, under tail-coverts, 

 and in some cases the sides of the chest, are strongly 

 barred with dusky brown, each feather having two trans- 

 verse bands ; the cheeks and sides of the throat grey 

 prettily mottled with small white spots ; the superciliary 

 stripe white, conspicuous, and extending from opposite the 

 middle of the eye backwards over the ear-coverts ; the head, 

 hind-neck, and ear-coverts greyish brown, the feathers on 

 the head having a scaly appearance ; the mantle, scapulars, 

 the lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, outer webs of 

 secondaries, warmer brown. The whole of the upper plumage 

 below the hind-neck is heavily barred with blackish brown. 

 The primaries are dusky, their outer margins with narrow 

 white bars or spots ; primary coverts dusky with brown 

 margins ; secondary coverts brown edged with dusky bars 

 and spots ; median and lesser coverts paler brown with 

 dusky bands, the lower series of the latter tipped with white 

 spots. Feet in life brownish pink. 



Compared with typical examples of the Common Wren, 

 the St Kilda bird is decidedly greyer and much more 

 abundantly and conspicuously barred on its upper surface ; 

 its under-surface is very decidedly lighter in colour, being 

 white, and likewise markedly barred ; and the spots or bars 

 on the outer webs of the primaries are white and narrow. In 

 the Common Wren the upper plumage is rufous brown, and 

 the bars few and inconspicuous ; the under parts are almost 

 uniform greyish brown, while the bars on the outer webs 



