THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS 41 



another the flight is preceded by a quivering, tremulous 

 motion of the wings. The form of the pretty wood- 

 wren can never be mistaken, with its yellow-green 

 back, green breast, and pure white under parts. 

 Its dome-shaped nest is a marvellously beautiful 

 structure, deep buried in summer wood flowers. I 

 have found the wild hyacinth, anemone, rock-rose 

 and plumy grasses all airily waving above the nest, 

 yet not a blade disturbed. The little green birds 

 drop down from the boughs, and enter by a small 

 hole in the side. Difficult to find is this if the parent 

 birds do not betray its whereabouts. But so small 

 is the hole that when I have known the precise 

 locality of the nest I have missed it, the entrance 

 being occupied by the head of the bird, its bright 

 eyes looking timidly out upon me. Of very varied 

 material is the nest such as the spot in which it 

 may happen to be affords compactly constructed, 

 and lined with delicate dead grasses and hair; 

 feathers are never used. Five or six white eggs are 

 laid, with reddish purple spots. Whether or no the 

 fact plays any part in the bird's economy I do not 

 know, but certain it is that a few dead leaves are 

 invariably found on the exterior of the nest. Where 

 districts are well timbered and the woods old, this 

 warbler loves best to breed, and there, probably, 

 it finds food most abundant, for insect life abounds 

 more in old wooded districts than where plantations 



