THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



deer" upon which it subsists. Its progress, with tail 

 erect, is more like that of a mouse than a bird, and 

 on the rare occasions when it flies far in the open it 

 drifts along looking like a big brown leaf borne by 

 the wind. During a lifetime spent in watching birds 

 in almost every kind of circumstance I only remember 

 to have seen the Wren hop upon the ground on one 

 occasion. So unique was the experience that I recorded 

 the date, March 31, 1897. I then saw a Wren cross a 

 Devonshire lane for about half a dozen yards in a suc- 

 cession of rapid hops, from the hedge on one side to a 

 low wall on the other. The Wren is a perennial songster. 

 Except in the moulting season, in early autumn, its joyous, 

 jerky, trilling song, loud and beautifully clear, stopping 

 with a suddenness that always seems to suggest that the 

 singer has been interrupted before it could be finished, 

 may be heard almost everywhere. I often pause for a 

 moment to listen to it in the London parks. The call- 

 notes are loud and startling, uttered in snatches in rapid 

 succession, and most frequently heard when the bird is 

 alarmed. Its food consists largely of insects, but also of 

 seeds and fruits, according to season. Except during 

 the nesting season, and for a week or so after the young 

 can fly, the Wren is solitary enough, although there can 

 be little doubt that in many cases the birds pair for life 

 and yearly breed in one particular spot. It is a somewhat 

 early breeder, and eggs for the first brood may be found 

 in April, those for later ones in June. The large, globular 

 nest is made in bushes and thickets, amongst ivy on walls 

 or tree-trunks, in old walls, in haystacks and sheds, in 

 thatch, under banks, amongst tree roots, and on old ivy- 

 covered stumps in the hedges. There are other sites 

 more exceptional, but which possibly occur to many 

 readers. The nest is made of moss, dry leaves and grass, 

 lichens, roots, and dead fern-fronds, lined with hair and 

 feathers. The entrance-hole is bound round with grass 



