518 ^ AVES— WREN. 



THE GOLDEN CRESTED WREN.i 



This is the smallest of all British birds, is very beautiful, and has an 

 extremely delicate and pleasing note, somewhat less loud than that of the 

 common wren. In winter it may be distinguished by its shrill squeak, 

 which somewhat resembles the cricking of a grasshopper. It is very agile, 

 and is almost constantly in motion, either fluttering from branch to branch, 

 creeping on all sides of the trees, clinging to them in all ways, and often 

 hanging with its back downward, like a titmouse. Insects and their eggs, 

 small worms, and various kinds of seeds, constitute its food. The female 

 lays from ten to eighteen eggs, which are scarcely larger than peas; and 

 the nest is frequently formed amongst the leaves at the top of the branch of 

 a fir tree, where, in high winds, it swings like a pendulum. 



Of this wren the head and upper part are of a deep reddish brown ; the 

 back, and the coverts of the wings and tail, are marked with slender trans- 

 verse black lines; the quill feathers are barred with black and red ; the belly 

 and sides are crossed with narrow, dusky and pale reddish brown lines ; the 

 tail is crossed with dusky bars ; the throat is a yellowish white ; and there 

 is a stroke of white above each eye. 



THE EUROPEAN WREN. 2 



This lilliputian songster is a native of every part of Europe. It weighs 

 only three drachms, is but four inches in length, from the point of the bill to 

 the end of the tail, and is admired for the loudness of its note, compared 

 with the little body whence it issues. It will carol forth its strains uncon- 

 cerned during a fall of snow. Even when confined in a cage, it has some- 

 times been known to sing as strong as when in its native fields, and 

 with equal freedom and mellowness of song. It commonly creeps about 

 hedges or trees, in the vicinity of farmyards, and sings very late in the 

 evening, though not, like the nightingale, after the landscape is enveloped 

 with darkness. — The female lays from ten to eighteen eggs, which are very 

 small, white, and sprinkled with red spots. 



The wren constructs its nest in a very curious manner. Unlike other 

 birds, it does not begin first at the bottom. If the nest be placed against a 

 bank, it commences the fabric at the top ; if against a tree, it at the outset 



* Reffulus auricapilhis, Selby. The genus Re^idus has the bill straight, slender, 

 deeper than broad, compressed, the edges bending inwards ; nostrils basal, with bristles 

 directed forwards ; wings with the first quill short, the second shorter than the third, 

 ■which is the longest ; tarsus longer than the middle toe. 



* Troglodytes Europceus, Cuv. The genus Troglodytes has the bill slender, and 

 lightly compressed, curved, emanginated ; nostrils basal, half covered by a naked mem- 

 brane ; wings short and rounded ; fourth and fifth feathers of equal length and longest ; 

 tail short, rounded, erect; tarsus the length of the middle toe. 



