TROGLODYTES EUROPiEUS. 



509 



other seven ; in another fortnight he took seven more ; but on 

 the next visit instead of eggs he found both birds dead in the 

 nest—" as if they had died," he said, " of a broken heart." 

 The more shame to be the cause of it. It was by the side of 

 the old quarry at Priormuir. I have often got moss-domed 

 nests amongst whins and under roots of trees in the woods 

 without feathers inside, and though I revisited them I never 

 found them with eggs or young, so I came to the conclusion 

 they were built by the male, as if he, too, wished to be a hermit 

 and a true Troglodtjtce. Others have also observed these " cock- 

 nests." Macgillivray says — " Mr Wood tells that the wren often 

 builds a dwelling in autumn and lodges in it in cold nights ;" 

 he " found one in an old thrush's nest in a laurel ; and that 

 "frequently the nests in which one or two broods had been 

 reared in summer are tenanted every night in winter." 

 Lowden's Magazine lately said, "During incubation the male 

 constructs as many as half a dozen nests near the true nest, 

 none of which are lined with feathers, and whilst the true nest 

 is artfully concealed, as to be seldom found, these are very often 

 seen." Mr Weir also says during a severe winter all the cock- 

 nests he knew were occupied as places of refuge by the wrens 

 and their families. So here, my young friends, is fine scope for 

 investigation. When rambling in the woods try and find moss- 

 domed nests without feathers inside. Watch and see how they 

 are used in winter, and study a lesson on ornithology direct 

 from the book of Nature. Selby, too, says—" In very severe 

 winters numbers perish from the want of their proper food. 

 They retire for shelter into holes of walls and the eaves of corn 

 and hay stacks ; and I have frequently found several dead 

 together in old nests which they had entered for protection and 

 warmth." In very severe winters several may take shelter 

 together in an old nest or hole, and roost in byres or stables for 

 heat, though I never found them. But I fear if all our 

 insectivorous fellow-sojourners through life were to die in severe 

 winters from the " want of proper food," many besides the little 

 Jenny wren would be found in holes huddled together, waiting 

 for the last undertaker — death. No wonder Burns asks in his 

 " Winter's Night"— 



" Ilk happing bird — wee helpless thing — 

 That in the merry months o' spring 

 Delighted me to hear thee sing— 



What comes o' thee ? 

 Whaur wilt thou cower thy chittering winer, 



And close thy e'e ?" 



