PARIDA. 12 
The egg of the Wren is rather larger than that of 
the Goldencrested Wren; in some specimens white, 
or almost so; in others white, with very minute 
rusty specks. 
With the Wren ends the Sylviade, or woodland 
birds, the family which, more than any other, is 
associated with ideas of summer, green fields and 
the cheerful song of birds. In consequence of the 
numerous species included in it, and the great 
number of individuals in some of the species, it 
may be considered one of the most important 
families both to the gardener and the agricul- 
turist: from the gardener most of the various 
species included in the family receive unmitigated 
abuse, deserved occasionally perhaps by a few fruit- 
stealers, but how entirely undeserved by many will 
be apparent to anyone who takes the trouble to 
study the food of the various species: to the agri- 
culturist they appear to me to do no harm, not 
being grain-eaters, like so many of the Finches and 
Buntings, but are constantly of service to him in the 
destruction of mischievous insects. 
Family Parip&. 
I now come to the Paride or Tits, a family not 
very numerous in various species, there being only 
M 
