I052 WREN 



north-west, and is replaced further to the southwai-d by T. 

 jpacificus. Eastward of the Rocky Mountains, the form is T. 

 hyemalis — the well-known Winter-Wren of Canada and the United 

 States. The number of species inhabiting North America is, how- 

 ever, very considerable, though authorities are by no means 

 agreed as to how many should be reckoned valid, and they have 

 been segregated into six or seven genera. Here the House- Wren, 

 T. domesticus or aedon, can alone be mentioned. It is a very 

 common summer-visitant to most parts of the Eastern States, and 

 where it occiirs is of a very familiar disposition, entering into the 

 closest relations with those that cultivate its acquaintance. It is 

 represented in the West by T. parkmanni. 



The Troglodytidx, regarded as a distinct Family, predominate in 

 the New World (no fewer than 60 species being enumerated in the 

 Nomendatm- of Messrs. Sclater and Salvin as belonging to the Neo- 

 tropical Region), and seem to have the Certhiidx (Tree-creeper, page 

 986) for their nearest allies. To place them among the Timeliidx, 

 as has been done (Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. pp. 1 et seqq.) is, as already 

 observed (Timelia, page 963), preposterously unfitting, and to 

 suppose them related to the Water-OusEL (page 688) is absurd. 



The Troglodytidse, however, by no means contain all the birds to 

 which the name "Wren" is applied. Several of the Sylviidx 

 (Warbler) bear it, especially the beautiful little Golden- crested 

 Wren (Kinglet) and the group commonly known in Britain as 

 " Willow- Wrens " — forming the genus Phylloscopus. Three of these 

 are habitual summer- visitants, which differ much more in their 

 manners than in their look. The largest, usually called the Wood- 

 Wren, P. sihilatrix, is more abundant in the north than in the 

 south of England, and chiefly frequents woods of oak or beech. 

 It has a loud and very peculiar song, like the word twee, sounded 

 very long, and repeated several times in succession — at first slowly, 

 but afterwards more quickly, an'd near the end accompanied by a 

 peculiar quivering of the wings, while at uncertain intervals comes 

 another note, which has been syllabled as chea, uttered about three 

 times in succession. The Willow- Wren proper, P. trochilus, is in 

 many parts of Great Britain the commonest summer-bird, and is 

 the most generally dispersed. In spring its joyous burst of song 

 is repeated time after time, until all around thrills with the loud 

 and merry chorus, and yet never tires the ear. The restless but 

 graceful activity of the bird, as it flits from twig to twig, adds to 

 the charm of its appearance, which Hewitson so well appreciated.^ 

 The third species, P. collyhita or minor (frequently but most 

 wrongly called Sylvia rufa or P. rufus), commonly known as the 

 Chiffchaff, from the peculiarity of its constantly repeated two- 

 noted cry, is very numerous in the southern and western part of 

 ^ It seems to be the " Green Linnet " of Wordsworth's poem. 



