WREN. 119 



though never in large numbers, with the exception of October 

 1899, when they swarmed on the sand-hills and sea-walls 

 for a day or two, but, like other small migrants, they remain 

 only a short time, being here one day and gone the next. 

 (See Migration Reports.) At the light stations they are 

 regular visitors in autumn, and on the vernal passage are 

 observed from March until May, but with less frequency 

 and in much smaller numbers at the latter period ; their 

 occurrence on vessels in the North Sea is by no means 

 uncommon. 



Although March to April is the usual time for nesting, 

 the eggs have been found as early as February the gth, in 

 1874, at Barnsley, and a late date is noted at Beverley, where 

 newly hatched young were seen on October gth 1902. Very 

 odd sites are often chosen for the nest : Charles Waterton 

 in 1847 recorded one in the coils of a rope hung up against a 

 tree in Walton Park ; one made within the nest of a Swallow 

 is mentioned in Neville Wood's Naturalist, in 1837 5 an( ^ 

 at Fewston in May 1903, I saw a similar case of usurpation, 

 a pair of Wrens having built for two years in succession and 

 reared their young in a shed where they utilised a Swallow's 

 nest which they domed over ; but the most curious building 

 place I have known of was in the carcass of a Crow, hung up 

 on a keeper's museum near Winestead, in Holderness, where 

 the parent bird was sitting on three eggs when discovered by 

 Mr. Potter on igth May 1902. 



The confiding nature of our little bird ensures its protection, 

 as it does that of the equally well-known and homely Red- 

 breast, and Yorkshire folk-lore associates the two in story 

 and verse, as exemplified by the familiar couplets : 



"The Robin and the Wren 



Are God Almighty's Cock and Hen, 



Him that harries their nest 



Never shall his soul have rest ; " 



a similar idea of sacredness being felt for the species under 

 notice as for her supposed mate. 



It has been observed that the individuals seen on the 

 coast in October appear to belong to a slightly larger race 



