The Wren is a solitary bird throughout the year, and is only observed 

 in small parties when the young have just flown from the nest; at this 

 season the young birds sometimes return to roost in the nest at night for 

 the first few days after they have flown, but at other times they roost in ivy- 

 covered walls and trees, dense evergreens, and in the holes in haystacks. 



About the beginning of March the Wren selects a mate, but nest-building is 

 rarely commenced until well on in April. The selection of a nesting-site is very 

 varied. The nest, which is a marvellous production for the size of the tiny archi- 

 tect, may be found in the lonely forests of pines, in the hedgerows, in gardens, 

 shrubberies, and plantations, even on the bare moors, wherever there is an over- 

 grown tangle of bramble and bracken. A favourite site for the nest is in some 

 patch of thick brushwood overgrown with dead bracken and choked with dead 

 leaves. Sometimes it may be found jammed into some corner in an outhouse, 

 and I have seen it built in a deserted Swallow's nest in a stone passage inside 

 a house, the birds going in and out through the broken fanlight over the door. 

 The materials of which the nest is made vary according to the surroundings, 

 some being built entirely of green moss, others of dry grass, while some are 

 made of the dead fronds of bracken. The nest is domed, the hole which admits 

 the birds being in the side, but rather nearer the top than the bottom of the 

 nest ; round this orifice are woven little pieces of fir sticks, or tiny straws, 

 which greatly strengthen the structure. The inside is lined with a felting of 

 fine moss, feathers, and hair, though sometimes moss only is used. The safety 

 of the nest is usually dependent on the materials used in the construction of 

 the outside, which is made to harmonise as much as possible with the sur- 

 roundings. The nest, which sometimes takes more than a fortnight to complete, 

 is entirely built by the female, while the male usually carries to her the greater 

 part of the materials. Numbers of unoccupied nests, built by these little birds, 

 are frequently observed, though for what purpose they are meant is as yet a 

 mystery to most ornithologists. Probably they are used as roosting-places in 

 localities where other suitable shelter is not obtainable. 



From four to six eggs are laid, though occasionally as many as eight or 

 nine may be found. They are pure white in ground-colour, very sparingly 

 marked with small red spots, which are sometimes collected in a zone round 

 the larger end of the egg, and sometimes evenly distributed over the surface ; 

 some specimens are entirely without markings. They are subject to considerable 

 variations in shape, some being much elongated, while others are short and 

 round. They vary in length from 74 to '62 inch, and in breadth from '55 to 

 46 inch. 



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