296 THE WREN 



Barrington, I came upon this bare statement: "A robin and wren 

 at present on the rock," and the date it is always well to be quite 

 correct when retailing scandal " May 16, 1890." 1 



As already shown in the Classified Notes, there are in our Isles 

 two local races of the wren. These are not known to display any 

 marked difference in habit from the common form. The St. Kilda 

 bird has the misfortune, however, to lay a larger egg than its co- 

 subspecies, the discovery of which fact at once exposed it to the 

 merciless persecution of a foolish type of collector, and has nearly 

 led to its extermination. 2 



1 Migration of Birds at Irish Lighthouses and Lightships, p. 146. 



2 For further information on this point, see W. H. Hudson's Lost British Birds. 



