144 ^^^^ Irish Naturalist. Oct.-Nov., 



huge preponderance of males after the first week or so 

 from the first arrival ? 



Wren. 



The well known unlincd " Cocks " nests of the common 

 Wi'en led me to expect parallel information from Saunders. 



He says of the Wren " imperfect nests are frequently 

 found near an occupied one, and owing to the notion that 

 they are built by the male bird for his lodging at night, 

 they are commonly known as ' cocks ' nests/' I have 

 had a piece of unsought-for good luck in elucidating this. 

 When sheltering at a roadside on 24th May a Wren was 

 building. It frequently sang, so presumably it was a 

 male. He did not mind my presence at a couple of yards 

 away. No alarm. No mate seen. The outside of the 

 nest was formed. On the nth June, nearly three weeks 

 later, there w^as no lining (of the usual feathers). Here is 

 at least one proven cock's nest ; and note the exact parallel 

 to Whitethroat in the manner of male and in absence of 

 nest lining. On the bare chance of the parallel being 

 completed by subsequent occupation of the nest, I went 

 there on the 23rd July and was delighted to find that it 

 had been lined, occupied, and an infertile egg left behind. 

 (I have noticed this occurrence of an infertile egg in a 

 couple of the late Whitethroats' nests, while the brood 

 seems not five, but four, or oftener three). So that now^ 

 we appear to have tlie same problems about the Wrens 

 as about the Whitethroats. Is it not strange that all this 

 was not known long ago about such ubi(j nitons birds ? 



Garden Warbler. 

 The numerous beginnings of nests by the Garden Warbler 

 (see my note, September, 1916) seem to me to be similar 

 strivings by the male preparatory to the female's arrival, 

 if arrive she does. It would be hard in the case of the 

 Garden Warbler to prove definitely no mate, but as in 

 the other cases I find he takes little notice of me, keeps 

 up his singing, and makes no alarm, all of which is totalW 

 opposite to v/hen the female is there. Perhaps a prepon- 

 dcnrnce of males is general among our songsters, and 

 accounts for the lengthened period of song to which we 

 are treated. 



