510 THE COMMON WREN. 



Small as the wren is, I have no doubt it can rough out a 

 severe winter better than most of our native birds, for Scotland 

 is the mother of hardihood and self-reliance. And Joseph 

 Cottle says : — 



" As Nature's wants are few, 

 In this the art of living lies, 

 To take no more than will suffice, 

 And make that little do." 



When the " Napoleon" was lost with all hands on Oct. 23rd, 

 1864, I remember seeing a wee wren scooging behind the 

 trunk of an old beech tree, holding on like grim death, when 

 the foam was driven over the city by the N.E. gale, and the 

 snow-clad blast w T as howling around it. Although its usual 

 habit is to hide, it shows its affinity to the creepers by creeping 

 sideways up trees and stones in search of food. It is a general 

 favourite, for it always seems so cheery, cocking up its short 

 tail and jerking its body, expressing its happiness by its usual 

 chit, chit. On June 20th, 1889, I saw a whole brood and their 

 parents thus flitting on the fern-clad braes of Kinkell; but, 

 owing to their short rounded wings and low flight, they are 

 easily run down when they leave their friendly underwood or 

 stones ; and the hunting of them on St Stephen's Day is an old 

 custom in the south of Ireland. Its general colour is pale 

 chestnut, with transverse bars of a darker shade on the head 

 and upper parts ; the quills barred with darker brown ; over 

 the eyes is a pale brownish-white streak ; under parts, pale 

 brown ; tail, also brown, and barred, always cocked up, gives 

 the little "jenny wren" its own unique, cheerful appearance. 

 The bill is pretty long and pointed, to suit its mode of life ; 

 iris, and long hooked claws, also brown. Although slightly 

 heavier, it is not much larger than the gold-crested wren, which 

 is 3f by 6 J, while this wren is 4 by 6| inches, only \ of an inch 

 longer. As a striking instance of birds hiding their nests by 

 making them like the place ; when the " Francis," from Sweden 

 (laden with pine pulp for paper), was wrecked in 1891, and her 

 cargo carted to Abbey Park, a chaffinch had her nest close by, 

 which was harried. She built another, dotted over with the 

 greyish-white pulp, so like the tree that it escaped detection, 

 and the young flew. The next allied genus is that of Upuya 

 or Hoopoe, as named by Linnaeus. 



