WINTER WREN. 435 
easily conceal itself. And yet, even in such a case, it is by no means 
easy to keep it in sight, for on the side of a bank, or by a wall, or ina 
thicket, it will find a hole where one least expected it, and creeping in 
some crevice beneath the snow, reappear at a considerable distance. 
* The food of birds can be determined only by opening their crops 
or stomachs, or by observation directed to living individuals, the for- 
mer, however, being the only sure method. The Wrens which I have 
opened generally contained remains of insects of various kinds, with 
larvee, and sometimes pupe ; but I have also found in them seeds, and 
Mr Nevitte Woop states that they sometimes eat red currants. In 
the stomach of.an individual examined in December 1830, I found many 
small hard seeds, an entire pupz, and numerous fragments of the shells 
of pupz, and elytra of coleopterous insects. So small a bird having so 
slender a bill, might doubtless be taken for a typical entomophagist ; 
but it is probable that no species of this order confines itself exclu- 
sively to insects. 
“The Wren pairs about the middle of spring, and begins early in 
April to construct its nest, which varies much in form and composi- 
tion, according to the locality. One brought me by my son is of asto- 
nishing size compared with that of its architect, its greatest diameter 
being seven inches, and its height five. Having been placed on a flat 
surface under a bank, its base is of a corresponding form, and is com- 
posed of layers of decayed ferns and other plants, mixed with twigs of 
herbaceous and woody vegetables. Similar materials have been em- 
ployed in raising the outer wall of the nest itself, of which the inte- 
rior is spherical, and three inches in diameter. ‘The wall is composed 
of mosses of several species, quite fresh and green, and it is arched 
over with fern leaves and straws. The mosses are curiously interwoven 
with fibrous roots and hair of various animals, and the inner surface is 
even and compact, like coarse felt. To the height of two inches there 
is a copious lining of large soft feathers, chiefly of the Wood Pigeon, 
but also of the Pheasant and Domestic Duck, with a few of the Black- 
bird. The aperture, which is in front, and in the form of a low arch, 
two inches in breadth at the base, and an inch and a half in height, 
has its lower edge formed of slender twigs, strong herbaceous stalks, 
and stems of grasses, the rest being felted in the usual manner. It 
contained five eggs of an elongated oval form, averaging eight lines 
in length, and six lines in breadth, pure white, with some scat- 
