n8 WREN. 



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 distur- 

 bance will cause the nest to be forsaken and a new 

 one built, and this again and again, if so required, 

 until the eggs are laid; even then, if they or the young 

 be once handled, this species will sometimes 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 forsaken nest will sometimes be again returned 

 to. Thus several nests of the same year are often found 

 near together, the work of one and the same pair of 

 birds ; and other nests, in the making of which both birds 

 assist, are not very unfrequently put together in the 

 autumn, and in these the birds shelter themselves in 

 the winter, possibly as being of the newest, and there- 

 fore the best, construction, and made too late in the 

 year for a further brood: these nests seldom, if ever, 

 contain any feathers. The young are said to return 

 to lodge in the nest for some time after being fledged. 



The eggs are usually from seven to eight in 

 number, but generally not more than eight, though 

 as many as a dozen, or even fourteen, have been found, 

 of a pale reddish white colour, the former tint being 

 transient; some are dusky white. This ground colour 

 is sprinkled all over with small spots of dark crimson 

 red, and these most numerous at the obtuse end; some 

 are quite white: the shell is very thin and polished. 



