256 



THE UNIVERSE. 



their eggs together in the same excavation in the sand. 

 Levaillant watched a whole night in a thicket in order to 



128. Nest of the Common Wren: Troglodytes Europceus (Cuvier). 



observe the manoeuvres of these birds, and saw four fe- 

 males betake themselves to the same heap of eggs ; " they 

 relieved each other in succession," says this traveller. 1 The 



1 The traveller Levaillant counted as many as thirty-eight eggs in an ostrich's 



