218 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



still think the stoning of wrens a proper country 

 sport. 



There is a legend about each bird. How did the 

 robin come by his red breast ? It was because he flew 

 in pity to pick a thorn from the Christ's crown of 

 thorns, and his breast was then stained for all time 

 with holy blood. The wren has been persecuted 

 because of some foolish old legend telling how in the 

 dark days, when Danes invaded England, a wren flew 

 to pick crumbs from a drum, and then sang so loud a 

 song that he aroused the army of his country's foes, 

 which otherwise would have been attacked as the 

 soldiers slept. There are other legends of the same 

 sort ; it became a custom to persecute wrens on 

 St. Stephen's Day, when " wren boys " would go 

 about pelting the little birds in hedges, singing verses 

 running : 



The Wren, the Wren, the king of all birds, 

 St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze : 

 We hunted him up, and hunted him down, 

 And hunted him all about the town. 



As though to hunt him and catch him was the 

 proper way to treat the king of all birds ! 



But the chief reason why we think of robins and 

 wrens together is because they sing the robin in 

 autumn and in winter also, even when snow is on the 

 ground, and the wren on mild winter days when other 

 songsters are silent. The sweet whistling of redbreast, 

 and the wrens' sharp notes and merry song these 

 surely are among the most delightful of country sounds 

 in winter. The robin's autumn song is for sadness 

 it is the song of the falling leaves. But the ringing 

 song of the wren has in it always notes as of laughter. 



Robins and wrens are birds of mystery, and give us 



