92 THE WREN, THE HEDGE-SPARROW, 



that severity of climate, and want of food, are 

 the real causes why our summer birds of pas- 

 sage leave us shortly after the sun has gone down 

 into the southern hemisphere. Like them, the 

 wren, the hedge-sparrow, and the robin, are in- 

 sectivorous, and they differ not in the texture 

 of their plumage ; still, they do not accompany 

 their departing congeners, but prefer to remain 

 in this cold and stormy quarter of the world, 

 throughout the whole of the year. They may 

 certainly suffer more or less, during the chilling 

 period of frost and snow ; nevertheless, their 

 breed is always kept up ; and we find, on the 

 return of spring, that they have not suffered 

 more than others which are apparently better 

 suited to brave the rigour of an English winter 

 than they are. 



There is yet another point which 1 wants set- 

 tling in the habits of these birds. I allude to 

 their song. When we are informed that incu- 

 bation is the main inducement to melody in 

 the feathered tribe, we have only to step out 

 after sunrise into the surrounding evergreens, 

 and there we are sure to hear either the wren, 

 the hedge-sparrow, or the robin, in fine song, 

 although not a single twig has been laid, or a 



