90 British Birds ^ 



Wren. — A kind of natural pefc with every one. I 

 scarcely ever remember to have spoken of the Wren, 

 or heard others speak of it, without some gentle, 

 loving epithet applied to its name. The provincial 

 names quoted are instances of what I mean, and how 

 often the words " poor," " little," " tiny," and even 

 " dear," are joined to the prefixes of Jenny, or Kitty, 

 or Titty. Its little song, its seeming incapacity to 

 bear the rude buffets of storm and cold, its quiet 

 peculiar movements, all tend to commend it to our 

 kindly notice. And then the beautiful nest it makes 

 — such a great pile for such a tiny builder — and so 

 compact and warm and wonderfully concealed by the 

 use of the nicest adaptations of materials and design 

 to the site selected, — this makes us almost respectfully 

 admire, in addition to our love. I have found it on 

 the moss-covered bank, on the moss-covered trunk of 

 a tree, in thatch, in a haulm wall ; but wherever it is 

 found, the adjacent substances are made to help the 

 concealment. One would think that when strength 

 and ability, seemingly so inadequate, had been so 

 heavily tasked as is implied in the construction of 

 such a nest, the little birds would not be likely to 

 leave it, especially with the building of another in 

 immediate prospect. But I have not found it so 

 in practice. A very trifling enlargement of the single 

 orifice, or straining of the fabric in the effort to send 

 the finger to the bottom of the nest, is quite sufficient 

 to cause the nest to be deserted ; especially if the 

 Wrens owning it have once or more been disturbed 

 when in it, or very near it. When the young ones 

 are hatched, the case is altered. The eggs are often 



