]SEST OF THE WREN. 77 



by the architects, who departed elsewhere to seek 

 a more private retreat, 



The nest of the wren, which, though familiar to 

 us, can never be sufficiently admired, is also a 

 structure in the formation of which much patience, 

 ingenuity, and skill are necessary. This structure 

 is of an oval form, arched over at the top, and pre- 

 sents a beautiful specimen of strength, warmth, and 

 neatness. " So compact is it," says Mr. Hewitson, 

 " that one in my collection might be kicked about 

 the floor without much disarranging or disuniting 

 those minute particles of moss of which it was 

 first formed." The materials are frequently just 

 those which happen to be nearest to hand ; often 

 the fibres of moss 3 sometimes hay, sometimes even 

 litter or decayed straw. The architect founds its 

 dwelling in the spring, and both birds commonly 

 assist in the task. Sometimes they adopt a curious 

 division of labour in the task of its construction. 

 " In watching a pair of wrens building their nest 

 in an old road," observes a correspondent of the 

 Magazine of Natural History, " I noticed that one 

 confined itself entirely to the construction of the 

 nest, which it never left for a moment ; whilst the 

 other was as incessant!} 7 passing and repassing 



