212 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiv. 



and although normally the birds would, of course, build and 

 lay again, the chances against a single pair of Bramblings 

 establishing themselves must be very considerable. Every- 

 thing possible should have been done to enable them to rear 

 young, which might reasonably be expected to return to 

 breed in the same district. — Eds. 



Reference is made {loc. cit.) to E. T. Booth's [record of a 

 nest with three eggs of this species in Perthshire in 1866 

 {Zool., i8yy, p. 60). In this case the nest was left to be 

 hatched out, but was destroyed a fortnight later, probably 

 by a cat. There can be no doubt that Booth's identification 

 was correct, but though in this instance the locality was 

 probably the true one, in some cases Booth suppressed or 

 altered the names of localities, so that there is no absolute 

 certainty that Glen Lyon was the real scene of this incident. 

 There is, however, another case of breeding, not referred to 

 in the article in the Scottish Naturalist. The late Major W. 

 Stirling had a nest and eggs of the Brambling taken iDy one 

 of his keepers on his own ground at Monar Forest. In this 

 case the keeper, who took the nest, did not secure either 

 parent, and when sent back for this purpose, failed to find the 

 birds. The authentication therefore rests on the evidence of 

 the keeper, together with that afforded by the nest and eggs. 

 Mr. C. D. Borrer, who has inspected them, kindly com- 

 municated the facts to me. — F. C. R. Jourdain. 



The Economy of the Wren. — The literature regarding 

 the nesting and roosting of the Wren {Troglodytes t. troglodytes) 

 is rapidly assuming formidable dimensions, and over twenty- 

 five notes on the subject have already appeared in the 

 Zoologist, British Birds, and the Irish Naturalist ! Several 

 contributions by Messrs. J. P. Burkitt, E. P. Butterfield 

 and R. F. Ruttledge have recently appeared in the Irish Nat., 

 1920, pp. 21, 68, 107, 109 and 123. Mr. Burkitt finds that 

 the male apparently does not help to feed the young till they 

 leave the nest, but this is contrary to the experience of most 

 English observers, and also to that of Mr. Ruttledge in co. 

 Mayo. That the hen builds or helps to build the outer 

 structure of the nest, besides adding the inner lining, in some 

 cases at any rate, seems to be established by the evidence of 

 Weir and others, but this may only be the case when there 

 is no available " cock -nest," and it is evident that a series of 

 observations, preferably for various districts, are necessary 

 to settle this and similar points. 



