570 
WREN. 
are confluent, inclining to rust-colour ; their weight from eighteen to 
twenty-two grains. 
This is not an uncommon species, having met with it in most parts 
of the south of England and Wales, and as far westward as Cornwall. 
It seems partial to oak and beech woods, where it may be found by its 
singular note, which seems to express the word twee^ drawn out to 
some length, and repeated five or six times successively, terminating 
with the same notes delivered in a hurried manner, at which time it 
shakes its wings. This seems to he the extent of its song, the latter 
part of which is chiefly left out after the breeding season. It is also 
found in Germany, where it is likewise a migrative bird. Bech- 
stein describes it in the twenty-seventh volume of Naturforscher, under 
the title of Der Laubrogelchen, (little leaf-bird.) In the Leverian 
Museum, case No. 271, we observed it inscribed green wren. VieiUot 
seems to think that he was the first who distinguished between this 
and the hay bird, and proposes to call it Motacilla trochiloides ; but if he 
had taken the trouble to look into Aldrovand or Willughby, he would 
have found himself anticipated.* 
WREN (^Anorthura communis, Rennie.) 
* Troglodytes Europaeus, Cuo. Reg. Anim. — Troglodytes vulgaris, F/m. Br. Anim. 
p. 73. — Sylvia Troglodytes, Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 547. sp. 148 Motacilla 
Troglodytes, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 337. 46. — Gmel. Syst, 1. p. 993. sp. 46 Eaii, 
Syn. p. 80. A. 11. — Will. p. 164. t. 42. Regulus, Briss. 3. p. 425. 24 — Le 
Troglodyte, Buff. Ois. 5. p. 352. t. 16. f. 1. — Ib.ff. Enl. p. 631. f. 2. — Troglo- 
dyte ordinaire, Temm. Man. d’Oin. 1. p. 233. — Zaun-Sanger, Meyer, Tasschenb. 
Deut. 1. p. 215. A. — Wren, Br. Zool. 1. No. 154 Arct. Zool. 2. No. 322. — 
Will. (Angl.) p. 229. t. 42 — Lath. Syn. 4. p 506. 143. — Lewins Br. Birds, 
3. t. 111. — Mont. Orn. Diet. — Wale. Syn. 2. . t. 242. — Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 
— Bewick’s Br. Birds, 2. p. 227. — Flem. Br. Anim. p. 73. — Selby, pi. 47. fig. 5. 
Provincial. — Vraun, or Ran. Cutty, Katy, or Kitty Wren. Kitty. 
The name of Tvoglodyta, applied to the Wren by the older natura- 
lists, and still continued by modern systematists, is derived from an 
ancient race of people inhabiting Ethiopia, who dug hollow caves for 
their habitations ; but though the term might apply well to the king- 
fisher, the bank swallow, or other mining birds, it is but little appro- 
priate to the Wren, which neither digs nor inhabits caverns, and might 
as well be applied, as it is in Ainsworth’s Dictionary, to the hedge- 
sparrow ! It is indeed very usual for the Wren to build under the brow 
of a river’s bank, where the turf overhangs from being undermined by 
the stream ; but the bird seems equally partial to the shelter afforded 
by ivy on trees or walls, though it will often build under the fork of a 
Oiseaux Doves, i. p. 3. Note. 
1 
