WREN. 69 



through the bars, which were only just over a third 

 of an inch apart, and escaped. The food of the Wren 

 is chiefly insects ; it is also fond of fruit. 



The nest is very large for the size of the bird, but 

 very compactly and firmly put together. It is domed 

 and oval in shape, with the entrance in the upper half. 

 It is difficult to describe the materials of which it 

 is composed, as they vary so much. Perhaps the 

 commonest form is composed externally of moss and 

 withered leaves ; the inside is lined with moss, hair, 

 and generally a quantity of feathers. But the Wren 

 has a wonderful knack of adapting itself to circum- 

 stances, and will frequently build its nest of the nearest 

 available materials ; these very often match the sur- 

 roundings of the nest. This serves a double purpose, 

 for the materials are ready to hand, and the nest is 

 much more difficult to detect. Thus, for instance, 

 one taken in a straw stack was composed outside 

 entirely of straw; another built near a carpenter's 

 shop had the outside all of shavings ; a third, placed 

 in a wall over a bed of nettles, was composed ex- 

 ternally of pieces and leaves of nettles. 



The nest is frequently found in low bushes or thick 

 brushwood, in the ivy on trees, or in a low wall where 

 some bricks have been displaced. Sometimes also it 

 is placed on the ground. Occasionally it has been 

 found as much as twenty feet from the ground, but 

 is usually only three or four feet from it. 



Instances of peculiar situations which Jenny Wren 

 has chosen for bringing up her family are numerous. 

 Thus, in Leicester Museum there is a nest built in an 

 old hat in a garden in 1884. Another curious place 

 was between the wings of an old crow, which had 

 been shot by a keeper and nailed to a tree. It has 



