148 THE BIEDS OF SHEKWOOD FOREST. 



vigorous, bustling industry and pert independence ; and 

 its share in the tragic story of " Who killed Cock Robin ?" 

 will ever make it familiar to our children. 



It is always interesting to watch the active vagaries of 

 these birds as they half flit, half creep in the bushes and 

 hedges of our gardens ; they are bold little creatures, 

 approaching within a yard or two without fear, but at 

 the same time vigilantly alive to secure their own 

 safety. While I write there is one in a barberry bush 

 just outside my window, so busy and bustling in its 

 activity, and with its tail cocked up at right angles with 

 such a consequential air, as fairly to provoke a burst of 

 laughter from my children. 



I hardly know any bird that employs such various 

 materials in the construction of its nest as the wren. 

 Moss is the most generally used, but it seems to avail 

 itself of those substances which lie most conveniently 

 for use, and these are often selected with an evident 

 view to concealment, or at least that end is attained, 

 whether designedly or not. On the other hand, sites 

 for the nest are frequently chosen in the most public 

 situations, as though privacy was scorned ; but these are 

 exceptions. 



It has often been noticed as a singular circumstance 

 that so many unfinished nests of the wren should be 

 found, and one year I counted six at one time in the 

 creepers outside a summer-house or rustic temple in the 

 pleasure grounds at Thoresby, within the space of a few 

 yards. They were in various stages of construction, 

 though none of them were completed, but seemed to 

 have been abandoned one after the other. A writer in 

 London's Magazine of Natural History, vol. iii. p. 568, 

 broached the theory that the male bird, from want of 



