292 THE WREN 



family break up, the young, according to Bailly, live solitary, but the 

 parents continue together. The species is usually seen either singly 

 or in pairs outside the breeding season. 1 



Wrens are very jealous of human intrusion into their affairs. 

 They will, as far as my own experience goes, often forsake a nest 

 that has been touched by the hand, unless the eggs are well-set; 

 therefore, to avoid hurting the bird's feelings, I generally carry with 

 me a long mustard-spoon, and delicately insert this into the nest if 

 I wish to find out whether or not it contains eggs. 



In England the wren is generally known as the " Kitty-" or 

 " Jenny "-wren terms of endearment called forth by its confiding 

 and amusing ways ; but in almost all European countries it shares 

 with the goldcrests the epithet " Kingly." This may have its origin 

 in a very old tradition, always worth repeating because so charac- 

 teristic of the wren's resourceful impudence. The story goes that 

 the birds desired a king, and decided to confer the title upon which- 

 ever of their number could mount highest into the air. This the 

 eagle seemed to do, but just as all were ready to render him homage, 

 a loud burst of song was heard above the eagle's head there sat the 

 tiny wren exultant, having been borne aloft by the giant unseen and 

 unfelt. The eagle in his rage dashed the wren to earth and broke its 

 tail, and this is why the wren's tail is so tiny. 



On desolate winter days the wren will suddenly fling at you this 

 same exultant song. The very aspect of the singer dispels all gloomy 

 thoughts, as he sits on the top of some hedgerow, with what courtesy 

 calls a tail, cocked up at right angles to his body, greeting you with 

 a cheerfulness worthy of Mark Tapley. It seems absurd that so tiny 

 a thing should be able to give forth such a volume of sound : one 

 would like to know the master who taught "The wren, with little 

 quill," voice production. 



The wren having no particular use for a tail, has not troubled to 

 cultivate one as a mere ornament. Dwelling in caves, as its Greek 



1 Zoologist, 1905, p. 141 ; J. B. Bailly, Ornithologie de la Savoie, ii. 462. 



