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CERTHlADiE. 
by the inhabitants of the Hebrides (Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 19) ; 
and a detailed account of the wren being called a “ king-bird,” 
over a considerable part of the European continent, will be found 
in one of the volumes of the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, 
entitled the Habits of Birds, p. 49. In the Literary Gazette of 
Eebruary the 28th, 1846, p. 195, is a letter, occupying a column, 
on the subject of both the wren and regulus, being called king- 
birds. It was suggested by a communication which Mr. C. Croker 
made to the British Archaeological Association, on the 4th of that 
month, as reported in the Lit. Gaz. of the 7th (p. 131). A great 
deal of information on the hunting of the wren, as well as on that 
species and the regulus being called king-birds in various countries, 
is given. It is stated, that in the Isle of Man, Wales, and the 
south of Erance, the hunting of the wren is practised at Christ- 
mas. Mr. Croker noticed the subject in connection with a pro- 
clamation by Richard Howden, Mayor of Cork, issued at the close 
of 1845, with the intention, as headed, to “prevent cruelty to 
animals.” “The old popular ceremony long prevalent in Ireland, 
of hunting and killing a wren on St. Stephen's day,” was 
forbidden. 
Much the fullest description of the wren I have met with, is 
from the pen of Mr. Weir, and published in Mr. Macgillivray's 
work just mentioned. In Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, I have 
met with the wren as commonly as in the British Islands. 
William’s army early in the morning, when some wrens , attracted probably by the 
fragments of the preceding night’s meal, alighted on the head of a drum which had 
served for a table, and the noise of their bills in the act of picking awoke the drum- 
mer, who instantly beat to arms, and saved William’s army from defeat. The wren 
accordingly, has been ever since a prime favourite with the Orange party, and an object 
of persecution to the friends of James.” — Extract from a small work entitled The 
Rights of Animals, by Wm. H. Drummond, D. D., p. 142. (1838.) 
