WREN, HEDGE-SPARROW, AND ROBIN. 91 



THE WREN, THE HEDGE-SPARROW, AND 

 THE ROBIN. 



The song of these three well-known warblers 

 may be termed perennial. Formerly it was 

 very rare for me to hear the notes of the second, 

 whilst the storms of winter raged through this 

 little valley. But now, it is otherwise ; for the 

 yew shrubs, which have grown up into a 

 spacious cover, seem to be more congenial to 

 the habits of the hedge-sparrow than any other 

 evergreen ; and it may be seen perched near 

 the top of these, and warbling there, from 

 time to time, in every month of the year. 



As I am not yet a convert to the necessity 

 or advantage of giving to many of our British 

 birds the new and jaw-breaking names which 

 appear on the page of modern ornithology, I 

 will content myself with the old nomenclature, 

 so well-known to every village lad throughout 

 the land. 



There is a problem to be solved in the eco- 

 nomy of these three soft-billed little birds, 

 before we can safely come to the conclusion, 



