THE WOOD-WEEN 25 



Afterwards, till the noontide swarm of insects 

 burst from their nymph -cases, the warblers 

 turned their attention to building. When the 

 flies, enticed by the increasing warmth, drifted 

 everywhere on frail, transparent wings, and the 

 " plop " of rising trout came from the reaches 

 beyond the sloping gravel-banks, the wood- 

 wrens, like the fish, made the most of their 

 opportunity to secure a supply of dainty food. 

 In the afternoon they were again busy about 

 the nest. The evening was regularly given up 

 fco courtship and fly-catching. And nightly, as 

 the misty gloom spread slowly over the country- 

 side, they retired to sleep in the gorse near the 

 copse. 



The spot selected for a building site was a tuft 

 of grass beneath a clump of broom on the edge 

 of a thick tangle of briar and furze. A green, 

 moss-covered pathway, trodden only by the 

 cattle that in the cloudless summer days some- 

 times waded across the cool shallows from the 

 farm meadows to browse in the shade of the 

 copse, here intersected the furze-brake, and led 

 onward to the tall avenue of beeches near the 

 island pond, where a pair of moor-hens had their 

 home among the sedges. Directly opposite the 

 wood-wren's nest was an ash tree, overlooking 

 another thicket of furze, and forming a con- 

 venient plighting place from which the birds 



