38 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



which the six or seven whitish eggs with pinkish spots are 

 laid. The hen enters the oven by a good-sized hole, a door 

 nearly twice as large as the wren ; and in this warm oven 

 the old bird sits ver^^ closely, only leaving the nest if you 

 get very near to her, when she darts off and disappears ; but 

 even then the nest is difficult to find, and though the birds 

 be not uncommon, their nests often escape the egg-robber. 

 When she darts from her nest, if you lie down and conceal 

 yourself, and then wait patiently for some quarter of an 

 hour, 3'ou may see her come dancing back, looking round 

 anxiously as she flits from branchlet to branchlet, gradually 

 drawing up with great caution, and dropping into her nest ; 

 and then you too know where it is ; but don't disturb it, for 

 she only lays once, and if robbed will not lay again. 



But should the eggs be hatched and the oven filled with 

 young, if you pass within earshot they will betray them- 

 selves, for they are for their size the noisiest youngsters I 

 know, continually "weeping" for food : nor are the old birds 

 often far away from their brood. Many a time when walk- 

 ing along a dike I have suddenly heard the young willow- 

 wren calling me straight to the nest, the old birds flying up 

 the rond a little way, looking on with beating hearts. 



A friendly, tame, affectionate little bird is the simple 

 little willow-wren. One of the joyous, sweet-voiced har- 

 bingers of spring, he is always welcome, the child-like little 

 willow-wren. Coming in April and staying till November, 

 he is like some of the pale flowers of the fenland — as 

 charming as evanescent. 



