294 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xv. 



Not so very long ago the books repeated extravagant 

 assertions about the normal clutch of a Wren's eggs. In the 

 first place the misstatements possibly arose from second- 

 hand evidence about what were really Tit's eggs, but there 

 is, too, nothing easier than to make a mistake in counting by 

 touch onl}^ — as I have proved again and again in connection 

 with Wren's nests. The normal clutch is in my opinion five, 

 with six fairly common ; l:>ut I have found complete clutches 

 of three oftener than any number above six. In 191 1 I 

 found eight Wren's eggs in the rather unusual site of one of 

 my closed nesting-boxes, and in the following year in another 

 box seven eggs were laid — almost certainly by the same bird. 

 It is of course possible that my own observations are insufifi- 

 cient to generalise about ; the above, however, may serve 

 to elicit either corroboration or refutation. 



The most interesting characteristic of all — and as far as 

 my investigations go a constant one — is the procedure of 

 Wrens when the nestlings are first fledged. They do not, 

 like the Swallows, return to roost in the nest at nightfall, 

 but the parents either stow them away in any unoccupied 

 nest of Thrush, Blackbird, Greenfinch, etc., that is handy 

 (sometimes distributing them between two), or else — and 

 this I have witnessed myself on two occasions — just when it 

 is needed, the parents (I watched both together at any rate 

 once) very hastily construct an extra nest to accommodate 

 them. This is begun and completed in a very short time, 

 and when ready for occupation looks exactly like a dilapidated 

 nest at least a year old, with the back only half filled in. I 

 twice attempted a flashlight photograph of the occupants, 

 which was rendered perfectly possible by this gaping hole, 

 but on each occasion the camera scared them away to other 

 quarters. This habit I have not seen referred to in the 

 " books," but anyone who cares to take the trouble can 

 easity test for himself my observation. 



A. H. Machell Cox. 



[Although 5 or 6 eggs probably constitute the normal 

 clutch of the Wren and 7 eggs are less usual, there is no doubt 

 that much larger clutches occur occasionally. I have myself 

 found 8, and know of two locally found sets ot 9. Mr. H. 

 Massey has met with sets of 10 and 11 in his neighbourhood, 

 and possesses a set of 14 from Ireland, while Mr. J. H. Owen 

 records a case of 16 young being hatched oft" from one nest 

 (British Birds XIII., p. 82). Macgillivray also mentions 

 instances of 16 and 17 egg'^. — F. C. R. Jourdain.! 



