240 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



are pure white when blown, faintly spotted with light 

 red spots, often forming a zone round the larger end : 

 some specimens are occasionally met with pure and 

 spotless. When the eggs are deposited, however, the 

 Wren will seldom forsake her treasure, and when her 

 tender brood are relying on her for sustenance, you 

 never find her forsake them, even though you take the 

 young in your hand and examine them, or catch the 

 female bird on the nest while ministering to their wants. 

 When the nest is approached the male is a noisy little 

 creature, coming within a few yards, and with restless 

 motions showing his anxiety, and his displeasure with 

 outbursts of loud and startling cries. W 7 hen the young 

 no longer require their parents' aid, which is soon after 

 they gain the use of their pinions, they are abandoned 

 and left to their own resources, and the old birds sepa- 

 rate, to lead a solitary life until the following spring 

 prompts them to seek a mate. I have seen many 

 erroneous tales in respect to the ropsting habits of this 

 little songster. How they are said to frequent holes or 

 crannies, and sleep in companies huddled together for 

 mutual warmth ; or where they build nests in the winter 

 for the purpose of shielding themselves from its icy 

 blasts. In the first place the Wren is decidedly a non- 

 gregarious species, and to congregate in parties for the 

 purpose of repose would be directly opposed to its life of 

 solitude. Secondly, as long as the ivy, holly, yew, or 

 laurel, decked in perennial verdure, exist in their haunts, 

 assuredly there the Wren will seek repose. In hay- 

 stacks, too, is a favourite place to find the Wren at night- 

 fall. 



The Wren in the course of its endless wanderings 

 and when in search of food is very often seen to enter 

 crevices in walls or the holes in tree roots and under 



