118 AN ADEPT AT CONCEALMENT. 



have used them. And is it not wonderful, altogether, the 

 intuitive skill of these tiny architects, that become so 

 perfect in their art, without any previous training or pre- 

 paration ? It would seem, too, that in the construction of 

 this abode of love, the labour is properly apportioned, one 

 bird not interfering with that department of the duty 

 which the other has, as it were by agreement, undertaken 

 to perform ; for a correspondent of the * Magazine of Na- 

 tural History 7 relates, that in watching a pair of Wrens 

 building their nest in an old road, he observed that one 

 confined itself to the construction of the nest, and the other 

 to the collection of materials, which it regularly delivered 

 to the master builder, and never attempted to put into 

 their proper places. And well constructed is the shapely 

 little structure ; little to us, but large in proportion to the 

 birds which are to tenant it ; lined within with feathers 

 or some other soft substance. The nest of this little bird 

 is enormously large, roundish or oblong, composed chiefly of 

 moss, and lined with feathers. Eennie observes, that the 

 bird does not begin at the bottom of the nest first, as is 

 usual with most birds ; but if against a tree, first forms the 

 outline of the nest, which is of an oval shape, and by that 

 means fastens it equally strong to all parts, and afterwards 

 encloses the sides and top, near which it leaves a small 

 hole for an entrance. If the nest is placed under a bank, 

 the top is first begun, and well secured in some cavity by 

 which the fabric is suspended. Grahame gives an admirable 

 poetical description of it, which on account of its length 

 we cannot quote. Wordsworth also has some beautiful 

 lines on the Wren's nest, which must be excluded for the 

 same reason. Knapp has some interesting remarks on the 

 stratagems of a Wren to conceal from observation a nest 

 which was placed on the side of a rafter, inside a cowshed. 

 Lest the orifice of the cell should engage attention, the bird 

 had negligently hung a rugged piece of moss on the straw 

 work, concealing the entrance, and apparently proceeding 

 from the rafter. It would appear that the nest is some- 

 times built in the hollow of a tree, as we read in a local 

 paper, that while two sawyers were cutting a log of Stettin 

 oak, 26 inches square, at Sunderland, they discovered in 



