with us during the most severe winter; and it is the only one of the whole feathered creation, which continues its warbling in a season, in which the universal silence of the woods and groves is interrupted only by the croaking of ravens. During a fall of snow it is still better heard, for then it enters the court-yards, the door of the stable, or dairy, seeking among the rubbish for the dead bodies of insects, and partaking at that time of almost any kind of food.

The song of the wren is much admired, being an agreeable soft warble, but louder than could be expected from the size of the bird; and this is continued without intermission through the year. These birds also sing very late in the evening, but not, like the nightingale, after dark.

They are birds of great spirit, and Mr. St. John relates the following story of the bravery and selfishness of a wren, "Three birds had built their nests almost contiguous to each other. A swallow had affixed hers in the corner of a piazza next his house; a bird, called Phoebe, in the other corner; and a wren possessed a little box which I had made on purpose and hung between. These were all quite tame. The wren had for some time shewn signs of dislike to the box which had been given to it. At length it resolved, small as it was, to drive the swallow from its habitation, and, astonishing to say, it succeeded. Impudence overcomes modesty; and this exploit was no sooner performed, than the wren removed every material to its own box with the most admirable dexterity. The signs of triumph appeared very visible; it fluttered its wings with uncommon velocity; and an extravagant joy was perceptible in all its movements. The peaceable swallow, like the passive quaker, sat meekly at a small distance, and never offered the least resistance. But no sooner was the plunder carried away, than the injured bird went to work with unabated ardor, and in a few days the depredations were repaired. To prevent any repetition of the same violence, the wren's box was removed to another part of the house."

This bird is found throughout Europe, and is very common in this country. It is also an inhabitant of Asia.

The ancients gave this bird the name of troglodyte, from a fancied resemblance between its manners and those of a race of men who were said to inhabit dens and caves of the earth.

There is some difference among naturalists in classing and distinguishing the tribe of wrens; a circumstance that might be expected in subjects so minute, and so slightly discriminated by nature.

The fly in the plate is the musca levidus. The larger eyes are of a red brown; the thorax of an iron grey, dappled with strokes of black. The scutulum is brownish. The abdomen is blue, having whitish glares, and being tessellated with black, like the vomatoria. The legs are black, and the wings clear. These flies are found in woods, sitting on the bark of

trees.

K

NEST AND EGGS OF THE BROWN WREN.

PLATE LXVIII.

THE wren builds twice a year, in April and June. The nest is a curious fabric, constructed on the outside chiefly of moss, having dried leaves and branches of fern fastened on it with blades of grass. Within this is a coating of wool and fine soft moss, and the lining consists of wool, with which a large quantity of feathers are invariably intermixed. The shape is an oval, smallest at the upper end, with only one small entrance. This nest is generally found in some corner of an out-house, stack of wood, or hole in a wall, near our habitations; but when the wren builds in woods, the nest is generally placed in some bush near the ground, on the stump of a tree, or even on the ground. The materials are generally adapted to the place where it is built if against a hay-rick, its exterior is composed of hay; if against the side of a tree, covered with lichens, or with green moss; or if it is placed in a bank, its exterior always corresponds with the adjoining surface. The wren does not, as is usual with most other birds, begin the bottom of its nest first. When against a tree, its primary operation is, to trace upon the bark, the outline, and then to fasten it with equal strength to all parts. It closes, in succession, the sides and top, leaving only a small hole for entrance. The female lays from ten to eighteen eggs of a roundish figure; white, and spotted near the larger end, with a slight sprinkling of small, faint, red spots. It frequently brings up as many young as it lays eggs.

An English ornithologist, remarks, that " is strange to admiration, that so small a bird should cover so great a number of eggs; and more strange, that it should feed such a company of young and not miss one, and that in the