SYLVIA. 



757 



for a mouse. Its bill is about half an inch long, a 

 little bent, of a dull brownish colour, and so slender 

 that it can with difficulty be seen even at a little 

 distance, if not projected against something much 

 lighter in the colour ; the irides are hazel, and the 

 eyes, though not large, are full and expressive; the 

 whole of the upper part is reddish brown, clouded 

 with obscure cross bars of dusky, and the under parts 

 are of the same brown, but lighter in the shade ; the 

 quills and tail-feathers are dusky brown, and there 

 are very lew markings on any part, except an obscure 

 pale streak over the eye, and a few white spots on 

 the under coverts of the tail ; the feet are of the 

 same brown as the general tint of the body ; and 

 perhaps there are few instances of a more perfect 

 adaptation of the colour of birds of the same family 

 to the places which they inhabit UKHI the fine but 

 delicate tints of the crested wrens on the lop of the 

 tree, and the sober livery of this one, which breeds 

 with the mice among the brushwood at the bottom. 

 Insects and earthworms, especially the latter, form at 

 least the principal food of the common wren ; and, 

 small as its bill is, we have seen it in a garden pull 

 from the ground an earthworm as long as itself, and 

 nearly as thick as a goose-quill, and fly to the foot of 

 an apple-tree, and, by the process of swallowing alone, 

 bolt it in a very short time. It has been said, though 

 we suspect with no great truth, that the robin cleans 

 its worms. We never saw one so nice in its eating, and 

 certainly the wren takes them as tney are. 



As a winter bird, the wren has none of the peculiar 

 fascinations of the robin. It comes near to the house, 

 but not in ; and it does not appear to be so thankful 

 for crumbs of bread as robin. Altogether it is a 

 much more obscure bird than the other, and seldom 

 appears in open places, or perched at any great 

 elevation on trees. It neither comes so early nor so 

 regularly as the other, and it departs sooner in the 

 spring. The warm and shaded places about which it 

 lurks appear to have a better supply of food during a 

 greater part of the year than the haunts of the robin. 

 It does not do a great deal of garden work on the trees 

 themselves, as the other does ; but we must not, for 

 this reason, suppose that it is wholly without its use. 

 Notwithstanding its partiality for hiding-places, there 

 appears to be a good deal of curiosity about this 

 wren ; and, indeed, it seems to be a pretty general 

 law among animals, that those which find their food 

 by prying about in obscure or confined places, are 

 very apt to examine everything new with a great 

 deal of attention. Many other birds, which you sur- 

 prise by walking into the garden or the shrubbery, 

 betake themselves to their perches or hiding-places 

 the instant that they observe you ; but not so the 

 wren, for it leaps out of the bush to reconnoitre you ; 

 and if you stand perfectly still, it will remain " at gaze " 

 for several minutes; but if you follow it, it moves to 

 two or three places, still eyeing you with a sort of 

 wondering curiosity, till at last it leaps away you 

 know not where. If you keep your first position 

 steadily for some time, the chance is, that it will treat 

 you in a different manner, for it will leap to some 

 perch, not a very elevated one, and salute you with 

 its song, which, though far from a varied or powerful 

 one, is much more shrill and sweet than you would 

 be prepared to expect from a creature so mouse-like 

 in its colour and habits. Cats lie much in wait for 

 wrens where they are abundant, but they do not 

 appear to be so successful in catching them as in 



catching many other birds ; for the cat is found with 

 many robins for one wren even in places distant 

 from towns and near woods, where the two birds are 

 about equally numerous. This is another proof of the 

 very keen eye of this little bird ; and we have again 

 and again seen grimalkin get within her distance, 

 and take her spring, but the wren bounded a little 

 aside, and, leaping on a twig, looked down upon her 

 with perfect unconcern. The fact is, that birds of 

 moderate range in the free air are much more fre- 

 quently destroyed by cats than birds of holes and 

 corners, as they do not appear to have their eyes so 

 much about them, and are more awake to sounds 

 than to sights. It is chiefly in the very severe 

 weather that wrens come to the close vicinity of 

 houses, and at these times they sing, although every 

 other bird is mute, save the querulous and com- 

 plaining chirp, which has no expression of pleasure 

 to the bird, or pleasurableness to the hearer. In the 

 northern parts of the country, when the snow lies 

 confirmed for many weeks to the depth of several 

 feet over the common pasture of the wren, and the 

 bird must resort to the vicinity of the farm-house, or 

 the bank of the yet unfrozen fountain or stream, it is 

 delightful to see how the little thing joys in the 

 warmth of the sun, leaps upon some projecting point, 

 and pours forth its little song as jocundly as any lark 

 that ever proclaimed the spring from the top of the 

 morning sky. 



The nest of the wren is always in a warm and 

 sheltered place, though differently sheltered accord- 

 ing to the nature of the ground. Where there are 

 young pines, with branches near the ground, and 

 heath under these, the place is especially favourite, 

 as the pine shuts out the rain almost as completely as 

 a roof. Whether it is the general habit of the bird, 

 we will not pretend to say, because we have intimately 

 studied its economy only in places of a peculiar cha- 

 racter ; but we never met with a wren's nest under a 

 young pine except on the north or the north-east 

 side. We have not certainly had any personal means 

 of verifying the fact, that the nest is begun at the 

 top and built downward?, neither did we ever see one 

 placed at any considerable height above the ground, 

 though they were all, in a way, a sort of dome 

 nests, with a lateral opening, and so concealed in the 

 underwood as not to be readily found. We have 

 usually found a few small sticks, but these formed 

 only the timbers of the fabric, the substantial part of 

 the external nest being moss or lichen, according as 

 the one or the other was most readily found. The 

 interior was copiously lined with feathers, and never 

 with wool, which indeed it could not be, as there 

 were then no sheep in that part of the country. In 

 districts of a different description, the nest, of course, 

 varies both in situation and materials ; for birds, like 

 men, must be contented with such places and mate- 

 rials as they can command ; and it is well for both that 

 their Almighty Creator has endowed them with this 

 flexibility to circumstances. Wrens are prolific birds. 

 We never saw more than from six to eight eggs in a 

 nest ; but the authorities say that they are sometimes 

 as many as eighteen, and even more, and we see no 

 reason for doubting the authorities though it were 

 very desirable that no such thing as an authority in 

 natural history existed. The eggs are very small, of 

 a white colour, with the faintest possible pinky tinge 

 over the greater part of their surface, and a neatly 

 mottled band of rust-coloured dots near the larger end. 



