THE WREN. 195 



musical powers. It is common on Ailsa Craig, breeding near the 

 base of the rock among the tufts of coarse vegetation growing 

 near the edge of the rude pathway for some distance round the 

 island. On all the Outer Hebrides it is likewise at home, fre- 

 quenting heath-clad rocks and the rugged banks of lakes, which it 

 enlivens by its merry movements and clear trilling notes. The 

 nest in such localities is found in the abrupt face of a broken bank 

 or on the naked edge of some deep pool where it is seldom dis- 

 tinguished for neatness, harmonising as it does with the dark 

 coloured heath or black peat moss. Frequently, too, it makes 

 choice of a turf dyke, living in the society of chattering star- 

 lings, which are very abundant, and by no means amiable 

 neighbours. 



In the cultivated districts of the mainland, the nest of this bird 

 is in many cases a very beautiful structure. In its selection of 

 materials, however, the wren is somewhat capricious, although 

 generally adhering strictly to one substance in building it, and 

 consequently those nests composed of moss or straw are the most 

 compact. I have now before me six different examples ; one is 

 wholly built of green moss firmly interwoven, another of beech 

 leaves, a third solely of dried ferns, a fourth of fine white straws, 

 a fifth almost exclusively of slender twigs of the larch, and a sixth 

 entirely of lichens. None of them had any lining of feathers, and 

 all contained eggs. I have often found smaller nests very neat 

 structures of their kind in the autumn and winter seasons, chiefly 

 under river banks and edges of rugged landslips or quarries. I 

 imagine these to have been winter retreats; they are very numerous 

 in some places. I have found eight or ten in the course of an 

 hour's walk along the banks of the water of Girvan. 



I look upon it as a singular fact in my experience that I have 

 never found more than eight eggs in a wren's nest. It would 

 appear that trustworthy observers, or their correspondents, have 

 taken nests with as many as twelve and fourteen, or even a greater 

 number. None of the numerous nests I have handled could 

 accommodate more than eight or ten young ones; and even 

 with so numerous a family the structures must be well placed to 

 sustain their weight when fledged. Graham, in his "Birds of 

 Scotland," seems to have been a believer in the existence of such 

 wondrous broods, and thus paraphrases the ideas of a much older 

 writer : 



