THE WREN. 
(Troglodytes Europoeus , L.) 
^HE Wren is another bird which, like the robin, has 
^ acquired a certain sanctity from its habit of resorting 
to man’s abodes in severe weather. This has caused a 
well-known distich of folk-lore to associate them— 
“ The robin and the Wren 
Are God Almighty’s cock and hen ; 
Who harries their nest, 
Never shall his soul have rest.” 
With its sprightly bearing, its tail carried erect, and its 
perpetual activity, the Wren is a familiar bird to all lovers 
of the country. At ordinary times it frequents hedges, hopping 
in and out of the lower parts, twisting round branches, and 
generally working forwards with an upward tendency. After 
a little it flies down again, and once more begins its busy 
search. Farm-yards, stacks of faggots, and the neighbour¬ 
hood of villages tempt it in winter to quit the bare hedges. 
It often resorts to cow-sheds and hovels too, generally 
roosting in their thatch during severe nights, where it has 
occasionally been found consorting with its kind for warmth, 
and notwithstanding their ordinary defiance of cold weather, 
frozen to death. Its scientific name imports that it creeps 
into caves (like the Troglodytes of the ancients), and has 
