
BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS. 
boughs, with their chirping and not over melodious note. 
This becomes a sort of prolonged chirr, as you approach 
nearer, while the bird hops from one bush to another, jerking 
its tail, which it keeps nearly erect, hopping about with great 
alacrity, continually uttering its rapid chit, chit, chirr :— 
*« Thou fairy bird, how sweet to trace 
The rapid flight of thy tiny race ; 
For the wild bee scarcely waves its wing 
More lightly than thine, thou fairy thing.” 
In liveliness and activity, indeed, it rivals all its congeners, 
which has originated a pleasant little fable among the inhabitants 
of the distant Hebrides :—‘“ The birds are all assembled, and the 
eagle is boasting of his strength. He can mount higher in the 
air than any other of earth’s mhabitants, but is flatly contra- 
dicted by the wren, which challenges him, and a trial of their 
powers ensues. Hyeing his puny rival with great contempt, the 
majestic eagle spreads his huge wings, in sign of acceptance 
of the challenge, rises up into the air with rapid gyrations; not 
so rapidly, however, but that the wren has nimbly perched on 
the eagle’s back, where it concealed itself among the feathers. 
Up rose the royal bird, high above the mountain; up beyond 
those cloudy streaks of grey vapour; up beyond cirri and 
cirro-cumuli that float in the blue ether; up till he seems a 
mere point to goshawk and peregrine; up till he is at last 
compelled to stop for breath, gasping with swollen eyes and 
palpitating heart; he can rise no farther, and, spreading wide 
his wings and tail, he floats in the dazzling light; he is 
satisfied the little vain-glorious thing which had defied him 
is left a mile behind at least. But lo! up starts the wren 
from its concealed perch; with a hop and a jerk of its tail, and 
with a glance of pride, it springs up into the regions, higher 
still, where it floats for a moment, and sings its song of triumph ; 
it seizes a feather from the eagle’s neck, and descends to receive 
the prize,—‘ for strength is no match for cunning.’ ” Such at 
least is the Hebridean moral, as related by Macgillivray. 
In this “ bosky dell,” just under a mossy bank, which formed 
a coping to the wall, where a stone had given way, the nest 
was placed. It was large for so small a bird. Outwardly,. 
it presents the appearance of a mass of decayed vegetable 
fibre, of an irregularly rounded form; its foundation is a 
layer of decayed ferns and other plants, herbaceous and 
woody. The outer wall of the nest is of the same kind of 
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