734 APPENDIX. 



ANORTIIURA TROGLODYTES. THE WREN. 

 Vol. Ill, p. 16. 



The following account of this bird by Mr Hepburn eluci- 

 dates some points of its history. " About the beginning of 

 August, when the cares of breeding are over, the Wrens resort 

 in considerable numbers to gardens, being doubtless attracted 

 by the multitudes of insects which frequent our fruits and 

 flowers. At this season they roost chiefly in the ivy. With 

 the first streak of day, the little fellow bustles from his perch, 

 mounts some neighbouring spray, and greets the morn, ' the 

 dew-drop trembling as the minstrel sings.' Now he gleans 

 his breakfast among the flowers, frisks about the flower-stalks 

 of the Dahlia and Hollyhock, which appear to abound in suit- 

 able game. A Hedge Chanter perhaps perches on a neigh- 

 bouring stake, but the Wren, having a great opinion of his 

 own dignity, resents the affront by driving him ofi^'. He now 

 commences his toilette, arranging with care his plumage, which 

 has become draggled by the dew-drops. If you advance to- 

 ward him when engaged in searching for food, he gives vent to 

 his alarm or anger in a sharp and very shrill chirp. If you 

 advance nearer, the chirp becomes a sort of prolonged chirr, 

 which, were it not so shrill, would very closely resemble the 

 alarm notes of the Missel Thrush. In the winter season, 

 when it frequents the hedges near dwellings, it is usually the 

 first to detect a skulking foe ; on perceiving a cat, it sounds its 

 alarm note, flies to tlie branches overhead, displays the greatest 

 activity, gets into a mossy fork, peeps over the side, darting 

 fierce glances at the prowler, which it dodges at every turn 

 till he departs. At this season it searches the eaves of stacks, 

 the roofs of stables and out-houses, the chinks of walls and 

 the banks of streamlets, in quest of spiders, larvae, and pupae, 

 and rests at night in holes in the thatch or in the sides of 

 stacks. A friend informs me that he has frequently taken 

 from four to six individuals in one hole. In the end of Febru- 

 ary or beginning of March the males in earnest commence 

 their song, which, though deficient in melody, is truly remark- 



