thus the two birds are named together in the Pastorals of George Smith, A.D. 1770:—
I found a robin’s nest within our shed,
And in the barn a wren her young ones bred;
I never take away their nest, nor try
To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die:
Dick took a wren’s nest from his cottage side,
And ere a twelvemonth passed his mother died.
Nevertheless, at Christmas-tide boys are accustomed in Essex to kill wrens and carry them about in furze-bushes, from house to house, asking a present in these words:—
The wren, the wren, the king of the birds,
St. Stephen’s Day was killed in the furze;
Although he be little his honour is great,
And so, good people, pray give us a treat.
It is remarkable that the custom extends to the Isle of Man, where the following verse is used:—
We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin,
We hunted the wren for Jack of the Can;
We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin,
We hunted the wren for every one.
And after making a circuit, and collecting what money they can, the boys lay the wren on a bier and bury it. The same usage has prevailed in Ireland and in France; it is a singular one, and has been thus explained. The bird had a sacred character among our Celtic ancestors, as among the Greeks. It was a bearer of celestial fire, and disputed with the eagle the kingship of the feathered creation. Early Christian teachers opposed the superstitious respect paid to the little creature, and their lessons were singularly embodied in this cruel persecution.[1]
The bawkie-bird, or bat, immortalised by Shakespear as “the delicate Ariel’s” steed, is in Scotland connected with witchcraft.
