332 INSECTIVOIUE. 



fatigued and perishing, on the coast between St. Abb's Head 

 and the Spurn. That happens, however, only when the 

 snow-drift gives note of its coming, in the intensity of cold ; 

 for if it break at once, the birds remain in their arctic dwel- 

 lings, and perish by thousands there. The golden-crested 

 wren is one of those which suffer much in that way. 



THE COMMON WREN (Troglodytes vulgaris). 



The wren is not literally a " dweller in caves," as troglo- 

 dytes imports, but it is a hideling, both in its nidification and 

 in its habits. In winter it comes near the house, and even 

 when snow lies thick upon the ground it may be seen hopping 

 about under the plants in the garden or the shrubbery. If 

 there is a pile of wood which has lain for some time, and is 

 not snowed over, it may be seen on tha top when the sun 

 comes out, or the day is otherwise at the brightest, but it 

 hops under cover the instant that it is approached. The 

 farm-yard is also a favourite place with it in severe weather, 

 and there it will seek its food very confidently among the 

 domestic poultry and domestic animals. If there are mud 

 walls, very thick hedges, or any other deep cover near the 

 house, it makes that its habitation all the year round, and 

 seeks shelter, in very severe weather, in the same nest in 

 which it has reared its brood. If the weather is more than 

 ordinarily severe, numbers will get into the same shelter, and 

 they are often found chilled to death by the cold or suffocated 

 by the snow. At those times, and indeed soon after the 

 young are reared, there does not appear to be any society 

 among wrens. Not that they evince the slightest hostility 

 to each other, but they are quite passive till the heat of the 

 weather puts them in mind of the labours of the season : and 

 very little heat suffices ; for even when the frost is still seen, 

 if the mid-day sun gleam out warmly, the wren will chant 

 his song ; and even when the sky is suddenly overcast, he 



