PARID^E. 



The egg of the Wren is rather larger than that of 

 the Goldencrested Wren ; in some specimens white, 

 or almost so; in others white, with very minute 

 rusty specks. 



With the Wren ends the Sylviadse, or woodland 

 birds, the family which, more than any other, is 

 associated with ideas of summer, green fields and 

 the cheerful song of birds. In consequence of the 

 numerous species included in it, and the great 

 number of individuals in some of the species, it 

 may be considered one of the most important 

 families both to the gardener and the agricul- 

 turist : from the gardener most of the various 

 species included in the family receive unmitigated 

 abuse, deserved occasionally perhaps by a few fruit- 

 stealers, but how entirely undeserved by many will 

 be apparent to anyone who takes the trouble to 

 study the food of the various species : to the agri- 

 culturist they appear to me to do no harm, not 

 being grain- eaters, like so many of the Finches and 

 Buntings, but are constantly of service to him in the 

 destruction of mischievous insects. 



Family PARID.E. 



I now come to the Paridae or Tits, a family not 

 very numerous in various species, there being only 



M 



