1 70 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



edges of steep banks ; in faggot-, clover-, or hay-stacks ; under projecting thatches 

 of sheds and outhouses ; upon a beam in a barn : but never in holes. 



In the materials used for the nest, the Wren appears to select usually such 

 as will tend to conceal it ; the fact being that it builds very largely with those 

 which are most handy ; thus nests bedded in heaps of dead leaves are externally 

 largely constructed of leaves, those in evergreen shrubs are also usually formed of 

 dead leaves, those in trailing creepers in which dead leaves have lain until moss 

 has grown on them, are largely formed of the same rank moss ; but a nest against 

 the bare trunk of a tree is largely made up out of straws and stiff bents, the ends 

 of which can be forced behind the loosened bark to support the structure. In 

 form the nest is cave-like ; domed, spherical, or oblong, with entrance in front, the 

 lower edge of which is always strengthened with transverse twigs or stiff bents, 

 so as to form a sort of perch or door-step : the walls are thick and fairly firm, 

 often formed of dry stalks and dead leaves, commingled with fibre ; but, in a barn 

 wholly of straw ; sometimes almost entirely of moss, whilst instances have been 

 recorded of nests formed entirely of clover. The inner lining consists, I believe 

 invariably, of a little moss and three or four soft feathers. 



As regards the number of eggs in a nest, opinions differ ; chiefly, I imagine, 

 owing to the fact that collectors have trusted to rustics to obtain clutches for them, 

 instead of taking them invariably (as they should do) with their own hands : con- 

 sequently the average peasant who does not, as I have repeatedly proved, know 

 the difference between a Wren and a Blue-Tit, brings clutches of eggs from nests 

 of the latter, asserting that he took them from Wrens' nests. 



In my experience the Wren never lays more than six for a full clutch, and 

 I dare say that I have either taken, or examined without touching, something like 

 fifty nests ; therefore, if more than six are ever deposited, the number must be 

 very abnormal ; Seebohm's statement as to the number is probably based largely 

 upon the assertions of others, which have been copied from work to work : his first 

 observation "The eggs of the Wren vary from four to six" representing his 

 personal experience, but the continuation " and even eight or nine in number " 

 with what follows, are probably not original, but must be traced to the fact that, 

 excepting in their slightly superior size, the eggs of the Wren (in all their 

 varieties) are extremely similar to those of the Blue-Tit. Mr. Frohawk has taken 

 many nests, but he tells me that he has never found more than six eggs.* 



On the 3ist September, 1887, a specimen of this species caught in my 

 large Thrush-trap, was placed in a Linnet-cage and immediately escaped through 



* In 1896, at least two men who should be able to recognize a Wren's nest, wrote to the " Feathered 

 World " asserting that they had taken several clutches of seven eggs, during the past season, in the North ; but, 

 even if this were proved, it would not alter the fact that the full clutch is usually six. 



