My Wren Boys

Tom Fitzpatrick of Recta Ratio has alerted us to an Irish Saint Stephen Martyr Day custom particularly apt for comment by the Catholic Birder: the Wren Boys . Young boys would hunt a wren to display on a pole for carolling purposes. The songs they would sing? Here is one Tom posted:

The wren, the wren,
The king of all birds,
On St. Stephen's Day
Got caught in the furze.
So it's up with the kettle
And down with the pan.
Won't you give us a penny
To bury the wren?


My four boys are already practiced birders. Here they are ready to spot chickadees, cardinals robins and bluejays.



Mr. Fitzpatrick ends his post wondering, "if wrenning could be domesticated and made acceptable to modern sensibilities, while still keeping the essense of the custom." Yes, it would have to be domesticated or else we might have to train a generation of bird hunters from scratch. I suspect the lads used snares or bird nets though they may have used a shotgun with a light load. There just aren't many songbird hunters around anymore outside of Spain and Portugal. Closest thing are dove hunters using 12 guages with improved cylinder chokes and No. 8 shot.

Here in the States we would have an easy time pishing caronlina wrens. The kinglet may be a better bird for this sport and song. Perhaps the local Audubon could lend us some of the ones they've banded.