WARE LEES. 131 



faintly streaked with white. The young are similar to the adults, 

 except that the irides are of a paler colour. 



THE WREN, 



(Sylvia troglodytes.) 



PLATE VIII. FIGURE V. 



FOP, the Nightingale our feelings are those of unqualified admiration,, 

 and, we might almost say, respect, for the marvellous perfection of 

 its vocal powers, but for little Jenny Wren we have a strong and 

 lively affection, not for any gifts that she possesses above other of 

 our feathered friends, but for herself, her familiar habits and merry 

 antics; she is essentially a good-tempered, genial little body, visiting 

 our gardens and gamboling before our eyes, not darting away and 

 concealing herself as soon as we approach, in the manner of most 

 birds, but exhibiting an amount of confidence that wins our hearts, 

 and renders it impossible for us to molest or injure her. Even in 

 our early childhood she enlisted our sympathies, and with Cock Robin 

 shared the first place in our affections of all the heroes or heroines of 

 nursery literature. 



"The little woodland dwarf," as Graham appropriately calls this 

 universal favourite, is common from one end of England to the other. 

 It is likewise known in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and the Orkney 

 and Shetland Isles. On the continent of Europe, it is more abundant 

 in the northern than in the southern and central parts, even visiting 

 the wild and desolate shores of Iceland and Greenland. It has also 

 been seen at Smyrna, and specimens have been received by the 

 Zoological Society from Trebizond. It has received the specific title 

 of troglodytes from its habit of hiding in caves or holes, in the manner 

 of the people of that name mentioned in ancient history. Its favourite 

 resorts are lanes and hedgerows, thickets, gardens, and orchards, 

 and it may often be met with along stone walls, and among fragments 

 of rocks. It remains in this country throughout the year, especially 

 frequenting the vicinity of houses, both in town and country, during 

 the winter months. The song of this interesting little bird may be 

 heard at all seasons, even during the coldest weather, when the only 

 other songster who braves the frost and snow is "the household bird 

 with the red stomacher." Graham says, 



