Cassell's book of birds; vol. 2

by Alfred Edmund Brehm

The WRENS (Troglodytæ) are small, compactly-built birds, with short wings and tails. Their beak is small, or of medium size, thin, awl-shaped, compressed at its sides, and slightly curved at its culmen; the feet are weak, short-toed, and the tarsi of moderate height; the wings, in which the fourth or fifth quill is the longest, are short, rounded, and much arched; the tail very short, conical, or slightly rounded. The plumage is usually reddish brown, marked with black. These little birds are to be met with all over the world, but are especially numerous in Europe, Asia, and America; everywhere they frequent the vicinity of trees or bushes, in whatever situation these are to be found, but most commonly prefer well-watered and cultivated districts. All the various species are restless, lively, and active; upon the ground, they hop with the utmost activity, and display a rapidity in creeping through the most tangled brushwood that is almost unrivalled. All are endowed with agreeable voices, and some American species sing very sweetly. The nests are generally of an oval shape, roofed above and furnished with a small entrance at the side; the materials employed vary considerably, according to the situations in which the nests are constructed, the places selected for building being sometimes curiously chosen. A Wren, as we are told by the Rev. J. G. Wood, made its nest in the body of a dead Hawk that was nailed to the side of a barn, and another in the interior of a pump, gaining access through the spout. As these birds testify little fear of man in South America, they are frequently provided with convenient receptacles for their nests, in order to induce them to build upon the roofs of the houses.

THE COMMON WREN (Troglodytes parvulus).

THE COMMON WREN.

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.'"