FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Re: wrens

[James Brooks <comeback@xxxxxxxx>]

Charles -
It goes back at least as far as Shakespeare. The Elizabethans felt that 
Spring was the time of year that Christopher Robin went calling on Jenny 
Wren. We are talking about the Eurasian Robin, of course, and the only 
wren then have in Europe is good old Troglodytes troglodytes, the Winter 
Wren. Of course that was transferred to the commoner (at least around 
houses) House Wren when our ancestors moved here. It's just one of many 
bits of our folklore that goes straight back to Elizabethan times. I 
guess they found it too hard to believe that two plain little brown jobs 
would mate when there was this really handsome and personable fellow 
Christopher Robin hopping around the homestead.
The Eurasian Robin is almost tame around European houses. I was in a 
village named Glaadt in die Eiffel region of Germany a few years back 
and a housewife was out scrubbing the flags in front of her house and a 
robin was hopping about, almost at her feet, searching for tidbits among 
the tiles. "Ach, das ist mein buchfink," she said with a smile. 
Literally, book fink (finch in German - she was misidentifying the 
bird). He was keeping an eye on her. Maybe that's how the term 'fink' 
took on a different meaning in English.
BTW, a few years ago there was a lady birder from North Carolina who had 
her name changed after a divorce to Jennifer Wren.
James Brooks

cfm46 wrote:

>Has anybody ever heard of "jenny wren" or "jinny wren"? My
>co-worker describes it to be house wren but I'm curious to
>know where the local name comes from?
>
>Thanks,
>Charles Moore
>(p.s.) I was walking at Winged Deer Sunday morning same as
>Larry McDaniel and missed the turkey! Bummer.
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       BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST
Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5

This is a regional birding list sponsored by the
Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications 
between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia
and Northeast Tennessee.  
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To post to this mailing list, simply send an email
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         wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
           (423)764-****