WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



no means an uninteresting study to the naturalist. There 

 is far more of art and cunning design in their manner of 

 building, than the casual observerwould suppose, and this, 

 even amongst the commonest of our native birds. The 

 wren, for instance, always adapts her nest to the colour 

 and appearance of the surrounding foliage, or whatever 

 else may be near the large and comfortable abode which 

 she forms for her tiny family. In a beech-hedge near the 

 house, in which the leaves of the last year still remain at 

 the time when the birds commence building, the wrens 

 form the outside of their nests entirely of the withered 

 leaves of the beech, so that, large as it is, the passer by 

 would never take it for anything more than a chance col- 

 lection of leaves heaped together, and though the nest is 

 as firm and strong as possible, they manage to give it the 

 look of a confused mass of leaves, instead of a round and 

 compact ball, which it really is. The wren also builds near 

 the ground, about the lower branches of shrubs which are 

 overgrown and surrounded with long grass: in these situ- 

 ations she forms her nest of the long withered grass itself, 

 and twines and arches it over her roof, in a manner which 

 would deceive the eyes of any animal, excepting those of 

 boys. When her nest is built, as it often is, in a spruce fir- 

 tree, she covers the outside with green moss, which of all 

 the substances she could select is the one most resembling 

 the foliage of the spruce: the interior of the wren's nest is a 

 perfect mass of feathers and soft substances. 



The chaffinch builds usually in the apple-trees, whose 

 lichen-covered branches she imitates closely, by covering 

 her nestwith the lichens andmoss of a similar colour. Even 



122 



