TROGLODYTID. 115 
THE WREN. 
TROcLoDYTES PARVULUS, K. L. Koch. 
The Wren, a bird as familiar by traditional associations as the 
Robin Redbreast, is generally distributed throughout the British 
Islands. Although sedentary with us, its numbers are largely 
increased by autumnal immigration ; many being found in October, 
according to Mr. Cordeaux, on and near the treeless coasts of 
Lincolnshire and the south of Yorkshire, and, perhaps less 
abundantly, in Norfolk. In our remoter islands, the resident birds 
have become somewhat different from those of the mainland. 
A single example from St. Kilda was described by Seebohm 
as I. hirtensis (Zool. 1884, p. 333); but Mr. Dresser, who sub- 
sequently examined seven examples, considers that the supposed 
points of difference are all to be found in specimens from various 
parts of Europe, and that the bird is not worthy of specific rank 
(Ibis 1886, p. 43). Mr. Barrington considers that the slightly larger 
Wren resident in Shetland is very close to a dark and more barred 
form found in the Feroes, which, with the Iceland bird, has been 
separated as 7: dorealis; while Dr. Stejneger has distinguished the 
Wren found in the south-west of Norway as 7. dergensis. 
With the above exceptions the typical form of Wren inhabits the 
whole of Europe ; breeding up to the Vefsen fjord in Norway, to 64° 
N. in Sweden, and nearly as high in Finland and Russia. East- 
ward, the Ural Mountains appear to be its boundary, and in the 
