Part 40

The COMMON WREN (_Troglodytes parvulus_) is about four inches long, and from five inches and a half to six inches broad; the wing measures an inch and three-quarters and the tail about an inch and a half. Upon the upper portion of the body the plumage is reddish brown, streaked with pale black; the under side is paler, marked with undulating dark brown lines; a brown cheek-stripe passes across the eyes, and a narrow brownish white line above them. The centre feathers in the wing-covers are decorated with oval white patches, touched with black; the quills are deepish grey on the inner web, and on the outer alternately spotted or streaked with reddish yellow and black; the tail-feathers are reddish brown, lightest at the edges, and marked with undulating dark brown lines; the eye is brown; the beak and feet reddish grey. The female is paler than her mate, and the young have more spots on the under side, and fewer on the back, than the old birds. The Wren inhabits all parts of the continent of Europe, from Northern Scandinavia to the most southern confines of Spain and Greece; in the Faroë Islands it is replaced by a very similar but much larger species (_Troglodytes borealis_); and another but more spotted variety (_Troglodytes Naumanni_) is met with in some parts of Central Europe. In North-western Africa and Asia Minor it is also common, but is, we believe, never seen in other parts of Asia. Such as inhabit India are nearly allied but not identical species. Like most members of its family, the Common Wren is lively and social, constantly seeking the immediate vicinity of man. Its song consists of a great variety of clear piping notes, intermingled with numerous trills, and is poured out with an energy and power that appear really astonishing, if we consider the small dimensions of the little singer. Throughout almost the entire year this cheerful music is to be heard; no inclemency of weather appears to daunt the brisk but diminutive vocalist, who carols forth his joyful anticipations of the coming spring, even when the snow-covered ground renders it impossible for him to procure a sufficient supply of food, and cold and want have completely silenced all his feathered companions. Like those of other members of its family, the movements of this species in the trees and on the ground are extremely agile and lively, but its flight, even for a Wren, is weak and unsteady. So slight are its powers of endurance, that Naumann assures us that a man can readily run it down and capture it with the hand. Indeed, a curious practice, as we are told, "has prevailed from time immemorial in the south of Ireland, of hunting this harmless little bird on Christmas Day. The hedges are beaten with sticks, and when the unfortunate little creature is driven from its concealment, it is struck down with a second stick carried by each hunter. On St. Stephen's Day the dead birds are hung by the children on an ivy-bush decorated with bright ribbons, which they carry about with songs, and collect money to 'bury the Wren.' This cruel piece of folly is, we are happy to learn, now falling into disuse."

This pretty little bird lives principally upon insects and berries, and when these fall short, it often ventures fearlessly into houses and outbuildings, in the hope of obtaining a meal. The situation of the nest and the materials employed for building it vary considerably. Trinthammer mentions an instance in which one of these birds made its nest year by year in the hut of some charcoal-burners, following them season after season in all their wanderings; indeed, it is not uncommon for a pair to build many times, before they have satisfied their fastidious requirements; and, strange to say, a solitary male will often make several nests before it has selected a mate. Boenigk, who observed a Wren attentively from April to August, tells us that the male constructed four nests before it took a partner. After it had found a mate, both worked together at three different nests, each in succession being left uncompleted, until at last the female, despairing of obtaining a place wherein to deposit her eggs, deserted her capricious spouse, who consoled himself by constructing two more nests, which, like the rest, were never employed.

"It is remarkable," says Montague, "how the materials of the Wren's nest are generally adapted to the place: if built against the side of a hayrick, it is composed of hay; if against a tree covered with white moss, it is made of that material; and with green moss if against a tree covered with the same; thus instinct directs it for security." Mr. Jesse mentions that he possessed a nest "built amongst some litter thrown into a yard, which so nearly resembled the surrounding objects that it was only discovered by the birds flying out of it. Some of the straws that composed it were so thick that one wondered how so small a bird could have used them." A correspondent in the _Magazine of Natural History_ says:--"In watching a pair of Wrens building their nest in an old road, I noticed that one confined itself entirely to the construction of the nest, which it never left for a moment, whilst the other was as incessantly passing and repassing with materials for the structure. These materials, however, this helper never once attempted to put into their places; they were always regularly delivered to the principal architect employed in constructing the building."

"I was not aware," says Mr. Weir, "it had been taken notice of by any naturalist that the European Wrens, or at least some of this species, take possession of their nests as places of repose during the severity of winter, until I perused a very interesting account of the habits of these little birds by Neville Wood, Esq., who says, 'Whether the nests in which one or two broods had been reared in the summer are tenanted every night throughout the winter by the old or the young birds is a question more curious than easy to determine, on account of the difficulty, almost impracticability, of catching the birds at night. This I have repeatedly endeavoured to effect without success. I am happy to say that, after much trouble, I have so far succeeded in determining this curious question. About nine o'clock of the evening of the 7th of March, in one of their nests which was built in a hole in an old wall, I caught the male and female, and three of the brood. The other four of the young birds which were also in the nest, made their escape. They were the Wrens I mentioned formerly as having occupied the two nests which wanted the lining of feathers.'"

"I know not," says Macgillivray, "a more pleasant object to look at than the Wren; it is always so smart and cheerful--to it all weathers are alike. The big drops of a thunder shower no more wet it than the drizzle of a Scotch mist; and, as it peeps from beneath a bramble, or glances from a hole in the wall, it seems as snug as a kitten frisking on the parlour rug."

"It is amusing," continues this writer, "to watch the motions of a young family of Wrens just come abroad. Walking among furze, or broom, or juniper, you are attracted to some bush by hearing issue from it a lively and frequent repetition of a sound which most resembles the syllable "Chit." On going up you perceive an old Wren flitting about the twigs, and presently a young one flies off, uttering a stifled 'Chirr,' while the parents continue to flutter about, uttering their loud 'Chit! chit! chit!' with indications of varied degrees of excitement."

The Wren produces two broods in the course of the year, the first in April, the second in July. The eggs, from six to eight in number, are large and round, of a pure white or yellowish white, delicately spotted with reddish brown or blood-red, these latter markings often taking the form of a wreath at the broad end. The male and female brood alternately for thirteen days, and cleanse the nest and feed their hungry family with great assiduity. The young remain for a considerable time with their parents, and generally return to pass the night in their old homes for some time after they are fully fledged. Although largely insectivorous, these hardy little birds are enabled to brave the severest winters, not only of our own climate but of still more northern regions. They are not uncommon in Zetland, where their sweet notes serve greatly to enliven the dreary landscape.

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The MARSH WRENS (_Thryothorus_) are a group of American species, distinguished from other members of the family by their comparatively long, thin, and slightly-curved beaks.

THE CAROLINA WREN.

The CAROLINA WREN (_Thryothorus Ludovicianus_), according to the Prince von Wied, is five inches long and seven broad; the wing measures two inches and one-sixth, and the tail an inch and three-quarters. The plumage of the upper portion of the body is reddish brown, marked with undulating lines of a deeper hue; the chin and throat are white, the rest of the lower parts yellowish red, with black markings on the sides; a stripe over the eyes is white. The quills are blackish brown on the inner, and striped on the outer web. The feathers of the wing-covers are tipped with white. The eye is greyish brown; the upper mandible light grey, the lower one lead-colour, tipped with pale brown. This species is the largest and most numerous of all the many species of Wrens inhabiting North America; it is met with alike in mountain tracts, low-lying regions, dense forests, or even districts near the abodes of man.

"The quickness of the motions of this little bird," says Audubon, "is fully equal to that of the mouse. Like the latter, it appears and is out of sight in a moment; peeps into a crevice, passes rapidly through it, and shows itself at a different place in the next instant. When satiated with food, or fatigued with these multiplied exertions, the little fellow stops, droops its tail, and sings with great energy a short ditty, something resembling the words '_Come to me, Come to me_,' repeated several times in quick succession, so loud, and yet so mellow, that it is always agreeable to listen to its music. During spring these notes are heard from all parts of the plantations, the damp woods, the swamps, the sides of creeks and rivers, as well as from the barns, the stables, and the piles of wood within a few yards of the house. I frequently heard one of these Wrens singing from the roof of an abandoned flat boat fastened to the shore, a short distance below the city of New Orleans. When its song was finished, the bird went on creeping from one board to another, thrust itself through an auger-hole, entered the boat's side at one place and peeped out at another, catching numerous spiders and other insects all the while. It sometimes ascends to the higher branches of a tree of moderate size, by climbing along a grape-vine, searching diligently among the leaves and in the chinks of the bark, alighting sideways against the trunk, and conducting itself like a true Creeper."

The vocal capabilities of the Carolina Wren would appear to be respectable, and it can imitate with tolerable accuracy the notes of other birds. "Amidst its imitations and variations," says Nuttall, "which seem almost endless, and lead the stranger to imagine himself, even in the depth of winter, surrounded by all the quaint choristers of the summer, there is still with our capricious and tuneful mimic a favourite theme, more constantly and regularly repeated than the rest. This was also the first sound that I heard from him, delivered with great spirit, though in the dreary month of January. This sweet and melodious ditty--_tsee-toot, tsee-toot, tsee-toot_, and sometimes _tsee-toot, tsee-toot, seet_, was usually uttered in a somewhat plaintive or tender strain, varied at each repetition with the most delightful and delicate tones, of which no conception can be formed without experience. That this song has a sentimental air may be conceived from its interpretation by the youths of the country, who pretend to hear it say '_Swĕet-heart, swĕet-heart, sweet_!' Nor is the illusion more than the natural truth, for usually this affectionate ditty is answered by its mate, sometimes in the same note, at others in a different call. In most cases it will be remarked that the phrases of our songster are uttered in threes; by this means it will generally be practicable to distinguish its performance from that of other birds, and particularly from the Cardinal Grosbeak, whose expressions it often closely imitates, both in power and delivery. I shall never, I believe, forget the soothing satisfaction and amusement I derived from this little constant and unwearied minstrel, my sole vocal companion throughout many weary miles of a vast, desolate, and otherwise cheerless wilderness. Yet, with all his readiness to amuse by his Protean song--the epitome of all he had ever heard or recollected--he was still studious of concealment, keeping busily engaged near the ground, or in low thickets, in quest of his food; and when he mounted a log or brush-pile, which he had just examined, his colour, so similar to the fallen leaves and wintry livery of Nature, often prevented me from gaining a glimpse of the wonderful and interesting mimic."

"The nest of the Carolina Wren," says Audubon, "is usually placed in a hole of some low, decayed tree, or in a fence stake, sometimes even in the stable, barn, or coach-house, should it there find a place suitable for its reception. I have found some not more than two feet from the ground in the stump of a tree that had long before been felled by the axe. The materials employed in its construction are hay, grasses, leaves, feathers, and horsehair, or the dry fibres of the Spanish moss; the feathers, hair, or moss, form the lining, the coarse materials the outer parts. When the hole is sufficiently large, the nest is not unfrequently five or six inches in depth, although only just wide enough to admit one of the birds at a time. The number of eggs is from five to eight. They are of a broad oval form, greyish white, sprinkled with reddish brown. Whilst at Oakley, the residence of my friend James Perrie, Esq., near Bagon, Jura, I discovered that one of these birds was in the habit of roosting in a Wood Thrush's nest, that was placed on a low horizontal branch, and had been filled with leaves that had fallen during the autumn. It was in the habit of thrusting its body beneath the leaves, and, I doubt not, found the place very comfortable. They usually raise two, sometimes three broods in a season. The young soon come out from the nest, and, in a few days after, creep and hop about with as much nimbleness as the old ones. Their plumage undergoes no change, merely becoming firmer in the colouring."

THE HOUSE WREN.

The HOUSE WREN (_Thryothorus platensis_), a South American species, is brown on the upper portion of the body, shading into red towards the rump. The quills and tail-feathers are finely striped with blackish brown, the former edged with a paler shade on the inner web; a pale streak passes over the eye; the throat is white; the region of the cheek striped with brown; the throat, breast, and belly are pale reddish yellow, the sides of the breast being deepest in tint, and faintly streaked. The eye is deep brown; the beak dark grey, whitish at its base; the foot reddish brown. The length of the body is four inches and six lines, the breadth six inches; the wing measures one inch and ten lines, and the tail an inch and a half. "This agreeable singing bird," says the Prince von Wied, "may be regarded as replacing our Common House Sparrow about the Brazilian houses. In appearance and habits it closely resembles the Common Wren, and is constantly to be seen hopping nimbly about the gardens and over the roofs and fences, or creeping with astonishing quickness through tiny holes or compact hedges. Its loud, sweet-toned voice is very similar to that of the True Warblers. The nests, which are small and carelessly constructed, are generally built upon the house-tops, or in holes of walls; those we saw were open above and very shallow, formed externally of stalks and grass, thickly lined with feathers. The eggs, four in number, were rose-pink, marked with deep red."

THE FLUTE-PLAYER

The FLUTE-PLAYER (_Cyphorhinus cantans_), a very noted species of Wren inhabiting South America, represents a group distinguished by the following characteristics:--The beak is strong, compressed at its sides; the nostrils small, round, quite open, and surrounded by a skin, whereas in other members of the family they are furnished with a covering; the wings are short and much rounded; the tail of moderate size, and graduated at its sides; the legs are strong, and the moderate-sized toes armed with very disproportionately powerful claws. The upper part of the plumage is reddish brown, lightest upon the brow and top of the head. The mantle-feathers are marked with blackish brown; the chin, throat, and front of the neck are light rust-red; the sides of the throat, cheeks, and region of the ear black, with white shafts to the feathers; the belly and centre of the breast are whitish yellow, the sides pale greenish brown, with dark markings. The length of this species is five inches, the wing measures two inches and one-sixth, and the tail one inch and one-third.

The Flute-player, as this bird is called by the Peruvians, on account of its strange and very beautiful voice, frequents the inmost recesses of the South American forests, where it lives in parties, and seeks for insects and berries either upon the ground or on such branches as are not more than two feet above its surface. During the middle of the day, according to Schomburghk, its song is rarely or never heard.

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The PIPITS (_Anthi_) form, as it were, a connecting link between the Warblers and Larks, and until lately were classed among the latter birds. Their body is slender; their wings, in which the third and fourth quills are the longest, are of moderate size; the upper wing-covers often of great length; the tail of medium size; the tarsus slender; the toes weak; and the claws very large, the hindermost, like that of the Lark, being prolonged into a spur. The beak is thin, straight, narrow at its base, and awl-shaped, its margins turn inwards, and are incised at the slightly-curved tip of the upper mandible; the smooth, glossy plumage is of a brownish or greenish hue. The young usually resemble their parents. The family of Pipits comprises a great number of species distributed over all parts of the world, some occupying mountain tracts, and others forests, plains, or marshy districts. All live principally on the ground, and sometimes, but rarely, they perch on the branches of trees. Their manner of progressing on _terra firma_ is rather by a rapid running step than by a series of leaps, and is accompanied by considerable agitation of the whole body, and constant gentle whisking of the tail. The flight of the Pipits is rapid, light, and undulatory, when they are desirous of going to any considerable distance, but changes to a hovering and fluttering motion when they rise into the air previous to singing. They are very intelligent, and their song, though simple, is agreeable; the call is a kind of piping sound, whence the name of Pipits, by which they are distinguished. Their principal food consists of beetles, moths, flies, snails, and aphides; some species also devour spiders and worms, and, according to recent observations, various kinds of seeds; all seek their food on the ground, and rarely seize their prey in the air, or by darting from the branches of trees or bushes. The nest is loosely formed of blades of grass, portions of plants and roots, lined with wool or hair, and is constructed on the ground. The eggs are of a dusky hue, and faintly marked with spots and streaks. The female alone broods, but both parents assist in tending the young. Most species lay more than once in the year.

THE MEADOW PIPIT, OR MEADOW TITLING.

The MEADOW PIPIT, or MEADOW TITLING (Anthus pratensis), is of a greenish brown, spotted with brownish black on the upper portion of the body; the breast is light rust-red, spotted with dark brown; the throat and belly are whitish, and a yellowish white streak passes over the eyes; the quills are brownish black, with light edges, and the feathers of the wing-covers bordered with dull green; the tail-feathers are brownish black, edged with olive-green, those at the exterior decorated with a large white spot at the tip. The eye is dark brown, the beak grey, and the foot reddish grey. This species is six inches long, and nine and a half broad; the wing measures two inches and five-sixths, and the tail two inches and a quarter. The female is a trifle smaller than her mate.

The Meadow Pipit is known to breed in all the northern half of the European continent, and is also met with in North-western Asia and North Africa. During the course of its journeyings in Egypt it usually settles near the coast among marshes, or near fields that are lying under water. In the British Isles it remains throughout the year, and is known in the lake district as the "Ling Bird," from the constancy with which it frequents the moors overgrown with heather or _ling_ in that part of the country. Like the Larks it migrates in large flocks, and frequently in company with those birds, travelling day and night; it usually makes its appearance in this country about March, leaving again in November or December. Meadows, marsh-lands, or commons, afford the resorts it prefers, but it generally avoids arid or barren districts. The movements and habits of this species resemble those of other members of its family; it lives on excellent terms with birds of its own kind, but constantly exhibits a strong desire to annoy and irritate its other feathered companions.

"When progressing from place to place," says Mr. Yarrell, "the flight of this bird is performed by short unequal jerks, but when in attendance on its mate, and undisturbed, it rises with an equal vibratory motion, and sings some musical soft notes on the wing, sometimes while hovering over its nest, and returns to the ground after singing. Occasionally it may be seen to settle on a low bush, but is rarely observed sitting on a branch of a tree, or perched on a rail, which is the common habit of the Tree Pipit. The Meadow Pipit, when standing on a slight mound of earth, a clod, or a stone, frequently moves his tail up and down like a Wagtail."

The nest is placed on the ground, sometimes so much sunk as to be with difficulty perceived; sometimes sheltered by a tuft of grass. It is composed externally of stems and leaves of grass, lined with finer grass, fibres, and hair.