104 WREN 



banks, as well as against trees, even so high up as twenty 

 feet, also under the eaves of the thatch of a building, in 

 holes in walls, the sides of stacks, among piles of wood or 

 faggots, or the bare roots of trees, and under the projection 

 at the top of the bank of a river ; one has been known 

 to be placed in an old bonnet fixed up among some peas to 

 frighten the birds. Mr. Hewitson mentions one built against 

 a clover stack. 



Other situations for nests are the tops of honeysuckle 

 and raspberry bushes, in the latter case the nest being 

 made of the leaves of the tree ; in fir trees, trelliswork, 

 granaries, the branches of wall-fruit trees, and lofts, use 

 being made occasionally of the holes previously tenanted by 

 Sparrows and Starlings. One has been known to be built 

 inside that of a Swallow, and another in the old nest of a 

 Thrush : one, again, in the newly-finished nest of a Martin, 

 another on a branch of a yew tree among the foliage, and 

 another in one of the hatches in the river at Winchester. 

 Mr. Jesse relates a curious anecodote of a Wren's nest, the 

 owner of which being disturbed by some children watching 

 it, blocked up the original entrance, and opened out a new 

 one on the other side. In the garden of Nunburnholme 

 Rectory one was built, in 1854, in the middle of a low 

 quickset hedge, near the top, close to the walk. It was 

 composed nearly entirely of dry leaves. 



The male feeds the female while sitting. Two broods are 

 produced in the season. The least disturbance will cause the 

 nest to be forsaken and a new one built ; even then, if the 

 eggs or the young be once handled, this species will some- 

 times desert them. This, or some interruption of the ordinary 

 course of laying, may be the cause of tenantless nests of the 

 Wren being so frequently found ; it is, however, said that a 



