172 BRITISH BIRDS. 



This active little bird is very common in Eng- 

 land, and braves our severest winters, which it con- 

 tributes to enliven by its sprightly note. During 

 that season it approaches near the dwellings of 

 man, and takes shelter in the roofs of houses, 

 barns, and in hay-stacks; it sings till late in the 

 evening, and not unfrequently during a fall of 

 snow. In the spring it betakes itself to the woods, 

 where it builds on the ground, or in a low bush, 

 and sometimes on the turf, beneath the trunk of a 

 tree, or in a hole in a wall; its nest is constructed 

 with much art, of an oval shape, with one small 

 aperture in the side for an entrance; it is composed 

 chiefly of moss, or other surrounding materials, so 

 as not to be easily distinguished from them, and 

 lined within with feathers : the female lays from 

 ten to sixteen, and sometimes eighteen eggs; they 

 are white, thinly sprinkled with small reddish 

 spots, mostly at the thicker end. 



