Skipping such terms as Brown Creefer, Oven-bird, and 

 others readily understood, I come to the varied tribe of Wrens, 

 about which in the Old World so much of personal affection and 

 legendary, not to say superstitious, interest gathers. Wren de- 

 rives from an ancient root wrin, whence, we are told, came 

 Anglo-Saxon words meaning to neigh (as a horse) , squeal (as a 

 pig) or chirp (as a sparrow). But the neighing horse and 

 scjuealing pig of which these words were always used were un- 

 castrated animals ; and the literal meaning of wrenne in the 

 Anglo-Saxon was the " little lascivious bird." Few words have 

 suffered or admitted of less change than this during all the cen- 

 turies of vicissitude through which it has passed. None of 

 the names of our representatives of this family require special 

 notice ; it may be mentioned, however, that Telmatodytes falus- 

 tris is Tomtit in South Carolina and Reed Warbler in Rhode 

 Island. 



The Frenchmen in Louisiana in the early days gave to their 

 familiar Wren (probably the Thryothorus ludovicianus) the 

 name Roitelet or "Little King." This was a direct importation 

 from Europe, and perpetuated a bit of folk-lore, which tells us 

 that the Wren is the superior of the Eagle, and hence King of 

 the birds, but a diminutive King, — hence Kinglet or Roitelet. 

 This supremacy was attained by the trial of the birds, in congress 

 assembled, as to which had the greatest powers of flight. The 

 Eagle soaring above all the rest, thought himself facile princeps, 

 when an impudent little beggar of a Wren that had slyly perched 

 upon the Eagle's broad back, rose gayly over his head, repeating 

 the maneuver as often as the baffled "King" attempted to get 

 above him. Ever afterward the Eagle was properly respectful 

 in the presence of the mite of a Wren that had outwitted his 

 majesty. Many forms of this myth appear, and sometimes the 

 statements are given as facts. Thus it is hard to tell whether or 

 not DuPratz believes the story he tells in his " Histoi'y " to ac- 

 count for the Kingship of Le Roitelet in Louisiana. In America 

 we do not regard the Wren with special kindness ; but in Great 

 Britain, it is scarcely ever spoken of without some gentle, loving 

 epithet; and the word "poor," "little," "tiny," or "dear" is con- 

 stantly joined to the prefix Jenny, Kitty, Titty {cf. anti, Tit). 

 Jintie, or Chitty when naming it.^uU. N", O. O. S.AplI. X38S, p. l7- 



