TROGLODYTID^. 



115 





THE WREN. 



Troglodytes parvulus, K. L. Koch. 



I 



The Wren, a bird as famih'ar by traditional associations as the 

 Robin Redbreast, is generally distributed throughout the British 

 Islands. Although sedentary with us, its numbers are largely 

 increased by autumnal immigration ; many being found in October, 

 according to Mr. Cordeaux, on and near the treeless coasts of 

 Lincolnshire and the south of Yorkshire, and, perhaps less 

 abundantly, in Norfolk. In our remoter islands, the resident birds 

 have become somewhat different from those of the mainland. 

 A single example from St. Kilda was described by Seebohm 

 as T. hirte?isis (Zool. 1884, p. z?>2>) '^ but Mr. Dresser, who sub- 

 sequently examined seven examples, considers that the supposed 

 points of difference are all to be found in specimens from various 

 parts of Europe, and that the bird is not worthy of specific rank 

 (Ibis 1886, p. 43). Mr. Barrington considers that the slightly larger 

 Wren resident in Shedand is very close to a dark and more barred 

 form found in the Faeroes, which, with the Iceland bird, has been 

 separated as T. borealis ; while Dr. Stejneger has distinguished the 

 Wren found in the south-west of Norway as T. bergetisis. 



With the above exceptions the typical form of Wren inhabits the 

 whole of Europe ; breeding up to the Vefsen fjord in Norway, to 64° 

 N. in Sweden, and nearly as high in Finland and Russia. East- 

 ward, the Ural Mountains appear to be its boundary, and in the 



