34 WREN. 



Busy as a Wren ; the viewless Wren ; self-contented Wren. 



Wordsworth. 



With head beneath her wing, 



A little Wren was sleeping 



So near, I had found it an easy thing 



To steal her for my keeping. 



Jean Ingelow. 



It is a hardy bird, and, by clustering together for mutual 

 warmth during severe weather, generally manages to escape the 

 cold, but the winter of 1 880-1 was very fatal to the Wren, and its 

 numbers are still below the average. 



The cock bird has a cheerful lively note, and he often, in the 

 sunshine of winter, 



When icicles hang dropping from the rock, 

 Pipes his perennial lay. 



The Wren often builds nests seemingly to desert them. Boys 

 call them " Cock Wrens' nests." 

 The Wren seems to say — 



We look not to the nest, our care 

 Is for the brood that nestles there. 



Evans— >S'o?2.£fs of the Birds. 



When once the family abode is taken up, however, the Wren 

 is a dihgent, anxious parent. The miracle of its successful care for 

 Its numerous progeny has often been commented on. 



Fed in the dark, and yet not one forgot. 



Grahame — Birds of Scotland. 



The poor Wren, 

 The most diminutive of birds, will fight 

 Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. 



The Wren in Ireland, and in the North, is sometimes perse- 

 cuted on St. Stephen's Day, when a rhyme is sung by parties of 

 men and boys : 



The Wren, the Wren, the King of all birds 

 St. Stephen's day, was caught in the furze. 

 Sing holly, sing ivy, sing ivy, sing holly, 

 A drop to drink just to scare " melancholy." 



In the West of England, however, a more favourable feeling is 

 expressed in the distich : — 



