78 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. ix. 



observer would suppose, and this, even amongst the commonest 

 of our native birds. The wren, for instance, always adapts her 

 nest to the colour and appearance of the surrounding foliage, or 

 whatever else may be near the large and comfortable abode 

 which she forms for her tiny family. In a beech-hedge near the 

 house, in which the leaves of the last year still remain at the 

 time when the birds commence building, the wrens form the out- 

 side of their nests entirely of the withered leaves of the beech, so 

 that, large as it is, the passerby would never take it for anything 

 more than a chance collection of leaves heaped together, and 

 though the nest is as firm and strong as possible, they manage to 

 give it the look of a confused mass of leaves, instead of a round 

 and compact ball, which it really is. The wren also builds near 

 the ground, about the lower branches of shrubs which are over- 

 grown and surrounded with long grass : in these situations she 

 forms her nest of the long withered grass itself, and twines and 

 arches it over her roof, in a manner which would deceive the 

 eyes of any animal, excepting those of boys. When her nest is 

 built, as it often is, in a spruce fir-tree, she covers the outside 

 with green moss, which of all the substances she could select is 

 the one most resembling the foliage of the spruce : the interior 

 of the wren's nest is a perfect mass of feathers and soft sub- 

 stances. 



The chaffinch builds usually in the apple-trees, whose lichen- 

 covered branches she imitates closely, by covering her nest with 

 the lichens and moss of a similar colour. Even her eggs are 

 much of the same hue. Sometimes this bird builds in the wall- 

 fruit trees, when she collects substances of exactly the same 

 colour as the wall itself. 



The greenfinch, building amongst the green foliage of trees, 

 covers her nest with green moss, while her eggs resemble in 

 colour the lining on which they are laid. The yellow-hammer, 

 again, builds on or near the ground, and forming her nest out- 

 wardly of dried grass and fibres, like those by which it is sur- 

 rounded, lines it with horsehair ; her eggs too are not unlike in 

 colour to her nest while the greenish brown of the bird herself 

 closely resembles the colour of the grass and twigs about her. 



The little whitethroat builds her nest on the ground, at the 

 root of a tree or in long withered grass, and carefully arches it 



