XLVIII. WEEK 



( Troglodytes parvulus. ) 



THE Wren is very common here more so, perhaps, among the 

 rocks and heather than even about the garden. Its song may 

 be heard in winter as well as in summer; it is more loud than 

 melodious, somewhat like that of a second-rate Canary. I have 

 observed, when I have had occasion to sit up all night in cases 

 of illness, that its song was the first to be heard at very early 

 dawn on the summer mornings. I heard a Wren singing on the 

 3rd of January 1895, in the garden of a cottage where I had 

 been visiting. It was late in the afternoon " the sun was set, 

 but yet it was not night." There was a beautiful afterglow 

 lighting up the snowy landscape and tingeing the hills with 

 orange. No wonder it was moved to chant a benedicite. 



THE TREE CREEPER (Certhia familiaris) is also to be seen 

 here among old moss-grown trees, running up and down the 

 stems searching for insects in the crannies of the bark. In 

 creeping up the trees, it keeps its stiffly-feathered tail pressed 

 close to the trunk to prevent its slipping downwards. 



Its colouring is so like the bark of the tree that it is rather 

 difficult to see, except while in motion. 



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