IVY WREN. ORNITHOLOGIST'S TEXT-BOOK. 217 



perhaps as commonly selects the first easy spot 

 that offers itself, as heaps of sticks or flower pots 

 in outhouses, and other warm and sheltered situa- 

 tions. I have generally found them in a hard and 

 frozen state, and, even though they may have lain 

 in the grave several months, yet — provided the 

 frost has not yet relented — the bodies do not ex- 

 hibit the slightest symptoms of putrescence. 



It is worthy of remark, that the Ivy Wren is a 

 pretty constant attendant on the Coal and Marsh 

 Tits and on the Goldcrested Kinglet, especially 

 the latter, and, that where the one is, the other is 

 almost sure to be also. Thus, whilst the Gold- 

 crested Kinglet (Regulus auricapillus, Selby^ is 

 exploring the branches and twigs of the mighty 

 oak and the lofty pine, the Ivy Wren is equally 

 busily employed in the humbler task of scouring 

 the brakes and bushes beneath. Both species are 

 remarkable for their activity, and are in constant 

 motion. 



The food of the Ivy Wren consists of various 

 kinds of insects and their larvae, and frequently 

 also — which is not noticed by authors — of red 

 currants, which it sometimes devours in great 

 abundance in sultry seasons. Insect food, how- 

 ever, forms by far the greater portion of its sub- 

 sistence, and fruit is probably only resorted to 

 when its favorite fare becomes scarce. All birds 

 are most eminently frugivorous during a long con- 

 tinuance of dry weather, owing, doubtless, to the 

 extreme difficulty with which insects and worms 

 are then procured, the latter then penetrating very 

 deep into the earth for the sake of eluding the 

 fervor of the sun's rays. 



My Cambridge correspondent, Henry Barlow, 

 Esq., appears to have noticed the Ivy Wren's fru- 

 givorous habits in confinement, though not in its 



