24 LONDON BIRDS 



they have succeeded in killing a Wren, carry the body 

 round from house to house demanding drink or its 

 equivalent in money. 



There is a rather uncomfortable ring in the last 

 line of the verses in which, according to a newspaper 

 correspondent, it is the custom for the ' Wren boys ' to 

 make their request 



' The wran, the wran, the king of all birds, 

 On St. Stephen's Day was cotched in the furze : 

 Though his body is little his family 's great, 

 So, plaze, kind lady, you '11 give us a thrate (treat). 



And if you dhraw it of the best, 



We hope in Heaven your sowl may rest ; 



But if you dhraw it of the small, 



It won't agree wid the wran boys at all.' 



Feathers of a St. Stephen's day Wren are a certain 

 charm against death by shipwreck. 



The golden-crested Wren has occasionally, but not 

 often, been seen on the peninsula in St. James's Park. 



A few Robins, and a Lark, seen on two consecutive 

 days in Hyde Park and the Green Park, complete the 

 list of the Sparrow family in the year's notes on which 

 this chapter is based, though there is no doubt that, 

 with a little longer observation, a great many others 

 might have been added. A Night-jar, for instance, 

 attended one of the evening performances of Buffalo 

 Bill, hawking about for some time near the seats 

 of the other spectators, at the end of May 1892. 



The ' Climbers ' are not well represented, the only one 

 that was noted during the year being a single vagabond 

 Cuckoo, who found his way into Hyde Park on the 



