120 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



pages of the * Zoologist,' namely, the claws of an 

 Owl which had been hung up in a gamekeeper's 

 "larder," and in the body of a scare-crow Book 

 hung up in a field. The nest is also occasionally 

 placed on the ground : inside the roof of a summer- 

 house is also a favourite place : one I found in my 

 summer-house a few years ago was very curious, the 

 outside of the nest being formed entirely of the 

 catkins of the Turkey oak, which were left partially 

 hanging down. The materials generally used are 

 moss, grass, hay and straw, in fact, almost any- 

 thing that comes handy, and feathers for the 

 lining. 



The food of the Wren consists of insects, of 

 which, says Montagu, it finds a sufficient quantity to 

 support life even in the severest winter. 



The general colour of the Wren is brown; the 

 upper mandible is dark brown, and the under 

 pale wood-brown ; irides hazel ; head, neck, back, 

 scapulars and tail-coverts burnt-umber-browii ; there 

 is a streak of pale brown (almost dirty white) over 

 the eye; the wing-coverts and tertials are burnt- 

 umber-brown, with darker streaks 011 the feathers ; 

 the primary quills dark brown, regularly spotted 

 with very light brown ; tail burnt-umber-brown, 

 narrowly streaked with dark brown ; throat, breast 

 and belly pale wood-brown; flanks and thighs 

 brown, streaked with darker ; under tail-coverts the 

 same, each feather slightly tipped with white. 



