THE MOCKING BIRD - THE WREN. 255 



frequently imposed upon by this admirable mimic, and are 

 decoyed by the fancied calls of their mates, or dive with 

 precipitation into the depth of thickets at the scream of what 

 they suppose to be the sparrow-hawk." 



The Tailor The Tailor Bird is a small bird of no very 



Bird. remarkable appearance, but it is singular from 



its habit of sewing leaves together in forming its nest. This it 



does by using its beak as a needle, and certain vegetable fibres 



as thread, and sewing the edges of leaves together in the form 



of a pocket, in which it deposits its eggs and rears its young. 



The Golden The Golden Crested Wren is the smallest 



Crested Wren. o f British Birds, and it is one of the most 

 beautiful, acccording to Mrs. Bowdich it only weighs eighty 

 grains. It is peculiar among British birds for suspending its 

 nest to the boughs of trees. Its nest is an elegant structure, some- 

 times open at the top, sometimes covered with a dome, having 

 an entrance at the side. It is a tame bird, and often visits 

 country gardens where it may be distinguished by its green and 

 yellow coat with white facings, and its golden crest Captain 

 Brown says : " its song is weak and intermittent, yet sweet as 

 that which fancy attributes to the fairy on the moonlight hill." 

 The Captain Brown, quoting from " Selby's Ornitho- 



Migration logy", gives an interesting account of the way in 

 of Birds. w hich our native birds are reinforced from other 

 countries." On the 24th and 25th of October, 1822," says Mr. 

 Selby, "after a very severe gale, with thick fog, from the 

 North East, (but veering, towards its conclusion, to the east 

 and south of east,) thousands of these birds were seen to 

 arrive upon the sea-shore and sand-banks of the Northum- 

 brian coast; many of them so fatigued by the length of 

 their flight, or perhaps by the unfavourable shift of wind, as 

 to be unable to rise again from the ground, and great num- 

 bers were in consequence caught or destroyed. This flight 

 must have been immensely numerous, as its extent was traced 

 through the whole length of the coasts of Northumberland 



