740 Retrospective Criticism. 



contiguous to the first ; and, in point of time, this always 

 happens just when the young have left the nest. The cock 

 bird, too, who has been silent while his young were unfledged, 

 begins to sing again ; and, throwing off the anxious care- 

 beset manners of a parent, he again assumes that of a bride- 

 groom. But, to return to wrens' nests, I found one (within 

 ten yards of the one I had known of since the 10th of April) 

 lined and ready for an eg^g. As I was anxious to prove what 

 I had so long believed, I pulled out this nest, thinking tliat 

 the old one was ready for laying a second lot of eggs ; and 

 that, as she had no other nest ready, she would probably take 

 up with the cock-nest. As it was half a mile from my house, 

 I did not visit it again until the 16th of June, and was then 

 delighted to find the old bird sitting on six or seven eggs in 

 the cock-nest which had remained so long unoccupied. I 

 believe, in this instance, there is very little lining in the nestj 

 although I should be sorry to examine it closely until the 

 young have left it ; but I consider it an exception to the gene- 

 ral rule, inasmuch as I believe the bird to have been ready to 

 lay when I pulled out the other nest. As she would have to 

 find another with as little delay as possible, she would not 

 have time to embellish the inside in the same manner as she 

 probably would have done, if she had had more time. 



On examining another wren's nest one evening, a few 

 weeks ago, I found the young ones had flown ; and, as there 

 was a cock-nest in some wrack left by the river in a bush a 

 few yards off*, I gave it a shake, to see if the old ones had 

 taken possession of it for another brood ; and I was surprised 

 to see one, and then a second, come flying out, and a third 

 putting out its head to reconnoitre. Whether the whole 

 brood was there I do not know, as I did not disturb them 

 further. As I had examined this nest only about ten days 

 before, and it had nothing in, I was at first at a loss to account 

 for it ; but have now no doubt that they were the young from 

 the adjoining nest, who had taken up their quarters for the 

 night in the new house. But how had they learnt the way ? 

 Young birds generally roost where night finds them; and, if I 

 had found only one, I should not have been surprised : but to 

 find at least three, probably six or seven, in a nest where, I am 

 certain, they were not bred, was something new to me. I went 

 several times in the evenings after this, but never found them. 

 I suppose the fright I gave them deterred them from lodging 

 there again. — 2\ G. Clitheroe, Lancashire, June SO. 1832. 



We have examined the wrens' nests sent : their staple 

 materials are moss, feathers, and hair. Into the moss on the 

 exterior of the nest are woven a more or less perfect, but 



