WREN. 571 



bare overhanging- bough, and I have now before me one built in the 

 small upper spray of a hawthorn, though it will be found, perhaps, more 

 commonly still, sheltered under the projecting side of a haystack, or the 

 overhanging thatch of a cottage eave.* 



This species weighs about two drams and three-quarters ; length 

 near four inches and a quarter. The bill is slender, full half an inch in 

 length, a little curved, and of a dusky brown-colour ; irides dark hazel; 

 the head, neck, and upper parts of the body, are of a deep reddish 

 brown, obscurely marked with transverse dusky lines ; over the eye a 

 light-coloured streak ; quills and tail dusky brown ; the former spotted 

 on the outer webs with light brown, the latter crossed with dusky black 

 lines ; the under parts light rufous brown ; the sides and thighs crossed 

 with darker lines ; under tail coverts obscurely spotted with black and 

 white ; legs pale brown. 



The food of this species is insects, which it finds in sufficient abun- 

 dance to support life, even in the severest winters. 



In the instance of the red-breast, the hedge-sparrow, (Accentor 

 modular is, Bechstein), and the Wren, one can scarcely imagine how 

 any of the species survive the winter, were it no more than the diffi- 

 culty of procuring food. Selby, indeed, has observed Wrens to perish 

 in severe winters, particularly when accompanied with great falls of 

 snow. " Under these circumstances," he says, " they retire for shelter 

 into holes of walls, and to the eaves of corn and haystacks ; and I have 

 frequently found the bodies of several together in old nests, which 

 they had entered for additional warmth and protection during severe 

 storms." 1 



*My friend, Allan Cunningham, Esq., tells me that he once found 

 several Wrens in the hole of a wall, rolled up into a sort of ball, for the 

 purpose, no doubt, of keeping one another warm during the night ; 

 and though such circumstances are only observed by accident, I think 

 it very likely to be nothing uncommon among such small birds as have 

 little power of generating, or retaining heat in cold weather. This 

 very circumstance, indeed, was observed by the older naturalists. 

 Speaking of Wrens, the learned author of the Physicce Curiosce says, 

 they crowd into a cave during winter, to increase their heat by com- 

 panionship : — " Multi uno specu in hyeme conduntur, ut parvus in 

 tarn minutis corporibus calor societate augeatur." 2 The value of this 

 author's testimony, however, may be estimated by his adding, that 

 when Wrens are put upon a spit to roast, it turns of its own accord, — 



1 Illustrations of Brit. Ornith. i. 197. 



2 Phys. Curiosse, p. 1249. 



