COMMON WREN. 297 



also our sympathies and interest as a resident through- 

 out the year, frequenting the close vicinity of our homes 

 in city and county ; at one time creeping mouse-hke 

 amongst the branches of the roadside fence, at another 

 startling us almost with the vehemence of its song as, 

 with open bill and tail erect, it pours forth its defiant 

 notes. Like the redbreast, also, this diminutive little 

 creature is famed for the eccentricities of its nesting 

 localities, and the strange assimilation of the materials 

 used to the peculiarities of the situation. How difficult 

 of detection is that ball of moss, placed sometimes on a 

 bank or decayed tree-stem, surrounded with verdure 

 of the same kind ; or the nest by the side of the straw 

 or clover stack — built entirely of the materials nearest 

 at hand, which defies even the keen sight of our 

 birds'-nesting boys till the entrance or exit of the 

 bird itself betrays its whereabouts. The most singular 

 and beautiful nest, however, of this species I ever 

 saw was taken in 1863, in a garden at Lakenham, 

 where it had been built amongst the leaves of a 

 Savoy cabbage. Formed entirely of moss, this exqui- 

 site little structure was so placed as to rest firmly 

 against one leaf, whilst another hung pendant over 

 the top, and in places even the moss was drawn 

 through these green supports, as though the beaks of 

 the architects had stitched them together. I could 

 only regret, when first shown this natural curiosity, 

 that no means could be adopted to preserve its fresh- 

 ness, but a photograph taken of it at the time, presents 

 in all but colour a very fair representation. This species, 

 like the last, is subject to little variation in plumage, 

 but in June, 1853, a very prettily marked specimen, 

 barred and spotted with white, was killed near Norwich. 



2q 



