WINTER WREN. 
143 
approaches nearer to the European Wren ( M. troglodytes ) than 
any other species we have. During his residence here, he 
frequents the projecting banks of creeks, old roots, decayed 
logs, small bushes, and rushes near watery places ; he even 
approaches the farm house, rambles about the wood pile, 
creeping among the interstices like a mouse. With tail erect, 
which is his constant habit, mounted on some projecting point 
or pinnacle, he sings with great animation. Even in the yards, 
gardens, and outhouses of the city, he appears familiar and 
quite at home. In short, he possesses almost all the habits of 
the European species. He is, however, migratory, which 
may be owing to the superior coldness of our continent. 
Never having met with the nest and eggs, I am unable to say 
how nearly they approximate to those of the former. 
I can find no precise description of this bird, as an American 
greater Titmice,) as to come regularly during the storm to the windows, for 
crumbs of bread. When confined, they become very docile, and will also eat 
pieces of flesh or fat. During winter, they roost in holes of trees or walls, 
eaves of thatched houses, or hay and com ricks. When not in holes, they 
remain suspended, with the back downwards or outwards. A common blue 
Tomtit, (and I have no doubt the same individual,) has roosted for three 
years in the same spot, under one of the projecting capitals of a pillar, by the 
side of my own front door. The colours of the group are chaste and pleasing, 
as might have been expected from their distribution. There are, however, one 
or two exceptions in those figured by M. Temminck, from Africa. The 
general shades are black, gray, white, blue, and different tints of olive, some- 
times reddish brown ; and in these, when the brightest colours occur, the blue 
and yellow, they are so blended, as not to be hard or offensive. Most of the 
species have some decided marks or colouring about the head, and the plumage 
is thick and downy, and loose — a very necessary requisite to those which 
frequent the more northern latitudes. 
Mr Audubon says, that this species sometimes forms a nest, by digging a 
hole for the purpose in the hardest wood with great industry and perseverance, 
although it is more frequently contented with the hole of the Downy Woodpecker, 
or some other small bird of that genus. We can hardly conceive, that the 
Crested Titmouse, or indeed any of the race, had sufficient strength to dig its 
own nest. The bill, though very powerful, when compared with the individual’s 
bulk, is not formed on the principle of those which excavate for themselves. 
I lately received the nest of this species, taken from some hollow tree. The 
inside lining was almost entirely composed of the scales and cast-off exuvia of 
snakes. — Ed. 
