the violence of the ttVort. Hut the next niomeiil the singer is carrying out hl>^l 

 year's feather-bed hy great beakfuls, or Uigging into some cranny sticks 

 ridiculously large for him. 



Uuring the nesting season lioth birds are jR-rfect little spitfires, assaulting 

 mischievous prowlers with a fearlessness which knows no caution, and scolding 

 in a voice which expresM-s utmost contemi)t. The rasping notes produced on such 

 an occasion remind oiu- of the energetic use of a uutnieg-grater by a fletermincd 

 housewife. 



In providing a nest tiie binls usually seek to Idl up the chosen cavity, what- 

 ever it be — an old cofTee pot, a peck measure, a sleeve or jacket of an old coat, 

 or a mere knot-hole — with sticks and trash. Within this mass, or preferably 

 on the top of it, a heavily-walled cup of chicken feathers is i)laced, and these arc 

 held in shape by a few horse-hairs. I once found a set of Wren's eggs in the 

 deserted nest of a Barn Swallow. Even here the second tenants had relined the 

 nest, until there was barely room to insert the fingers between the edge of the ne^t 

 and the roof of the building. 



No infrequently, whether because of the incessant persecutions of the Spar- 

 rows, or from a recurrence of ancestral tastes, nests are found far from any 

 human habitation, in a crevice of a worm fence or in a decayed stump at the 

 edge of the swamp. 



Eggs are deix)sited at the rate of one each day, and incubation lasts four- 

 teen days. Two and often three broods are raised in a season, the eggs of 

 each succeeding set usually being less in number. 



895 



