WREN 517 



brighter in the cock, the two sexes are ahke in the matter of colouring. 

 The upper-parts generally are chestnut finely barred with dusky, but 

 the greater wing-coverts and inner primary and secondary quills are 

 barred with pale brown and dusky ; above the eye is a whitish streak, 

 while the cheeks are dirty white, passing into buff on the throat, and 

 thence into brownish on the breast and flanks, which arc barred. In 

 young birds the barring is less pronounced. 



Reaching as far north as latitude 64 in Scandinavia, the wren 

 is a resident species, whose distributional area includes the greater 

 part of Europe, as well as northern Africa, and extends eastwards to 

 Syria, Asia Minor, northern Persia, and in Central Asia some distance 

 beyond the Yenesei valley. In Great Britain, as well as in Ireland, 

 wrens are universally distributed ; and on the eastern coasts of Great 

 Britain the number of resident birds is annually reinforced in autumn 

 by arrivals from the Continent. In Shetland the wren attains a rather 

 larger size than on the mainland, and this superior size is still more 

 marked in the case of the wren of St. Kilda, which has been described 

 as a distinct species, although it can scarcely be regarded as more than 

 a local race {Troglodytes pcwvulus Jiirteusis). Apparently its best 

 claim to distinction is to be found in the larger size of its eggs, since 

 the more fully barred back and the absence of spots on the throat and 

 breast, which have been stated to be peculiar to the island bird, are 

 features which may also be seen in some mainland specimens. 



From the absence of bushes in St. Kilda the wrens are compelled 

 to nest in the grass and other herbage, among which, and on the rocks, 

 they seek the insects and spiders which form their food. Elsewhere, 

 it is almost superfluous to state, wrens build domed nests composed 

 largely of moss, and lined with feathers, in bushes or ivy, or amid the 

 small branches fringing tree -trunks. These birds have also the 

 remarkable habit of building a number of additional nests, which seem 

 to lack the feather- lining, and are not used for breeding -purposes. 

 These " cock-nests," as they are commonly called, are supposed to be 

 either used as roosting-places, or intended to distract attention from 

 the real nursery. Although from four to six appears to be the usual 

 number, there may be as many as from eight to a dozen eggs in a 

 clutch, but the latter number is rare. The shell resembles porcelain, 

 with a few spots and a number of dots of reddish brown, generally 

 collected at the larger end, but sometimes evenly distributed. 



