184 THE WREN AND THE TROGLODYTE 



song. The troglodyte is about an inch longer than 

 the golden-crowned wren ; its plumage is shaded off 

 from dark brown to black, like that of tlie woodcock ; its 

 tail is constantly turned up like a plume of feathers ; it 

 sings moreover a merry, melodious strain. It builds its 

 nest anywhere, sometimes close to the ground, on some 

 bough covered wilh dense foliage ; sometimes under the 

 thatched roof of some lone cottage, and even sometimes 

 on llie hut of a coal-burner or maker of wooden shoes, 

 who carry on their trade in the heait of the forest. Their 

 nest consists of a ball of moss, shapeless on the outside, 

 but very skiirully lined with feathers on the inside. In this 

 soft nest the female lays nine or ten eggs of a dull whitish 

 colour spotted with red at the broader end. As soon as 

 the young ones are feathered, the family scatters and 

 disperses in the forest. 



The troglodyte lives in secluded retirement, in bushes 

 and thickets. There it flutters about until night has set 

 in, and it is, with the red-breast and the blackbird, one 

 of the last ])irds whose song is heard after the sun has 

 set. It is not shy, and the neighbourhood of man does not 

 annoy it in the least. I remember having met a troglodyte 

 in the forest of Compiegne, which was fluttering about 

 between the entangled branches of a sloe-tree, and it did 

 not seem at all disquieted by my presence. It went on 

 humming, singing with a clear voice, turning up its small 

 tail, agitating its wings, and passing through the thickets 



