TROGLODYTES EUROP^US. 505 



— the small feeding on the smaller. Like Shakespeare's 

 villain, there is no music in the creeper, unless its simple cheep. 

 It creeps with jerky fits and starts, its flight is short and rapid, 

 from the top of one tree to the bottom of another. When 

 farther, it flies with quick undulations, pretty high. In winter 

 it shifts from place to place, along with tits and goldcrests, as 

 most birds like company at this bleak time of year ; but often 

 by itself, and may be seen in gardens. The general colour of 

 this queer little bird is brown on the upper parts, streaked with 

 white ; under parts, glistening white ; head, dark brown ; neck 

 and back, paler ; each feather having a whitish streak in the 

 centre ; rump, yellowish-red ; tail, grey, tinged with brown, 

 composed of 12 long, stiff, accuminated feathers ; wings, crossed 

 by a bar of yellow ; a white streak runs over the eyes ; bill, 

 legs, and toes brown ; iris, hazel. It is 5J long by 8 ; female 

 similar, but less. The next allied genus is that of Troglodytes, 

 represented also by only one species in Europe — the little jenny 

 wren. It was placed in the Sylviadae by Linnaeus, but 

 separated by Cuvier. 



Genus— -TROGLODYTES. (Linn.) 

 Common Wren. 



Troglodytes Europceus. (Cuv.) 



"The wren — 

 Not shunning man's abode, though shy — 

 Almost as thought itself, of human ken — 

 To the bleak winds she sometimes gives 

 A slender, unexpected strain — 

 Proof that the hermitess still lives." — Wordsworth. 



Although there is only one species in Europe there are several 

 in America, all having the same habits. Troglodyte is a Greek 

 word, meaning dwelling in subterranean caves, applied by the 

 ancients to certain human tribes living in caves far up the Nile ; 

 though it does not apply to all the American species it does to 

 ours, for, if you notice, it always pops out of sight — amongst 

 stones or shrubs. It also makes a cave-like nest. Even Dr 

 Macgillivray, who sneered at the " extinct systems" of our old 

 authors, "prefers retaining the specific name Troglodytes, 

 bestowed by Linnaeus, to converting it into a generic name, 

 because the hiding in caves or holes by the ancient Troglodytse 

 2h 



