436 WINTER WREN. 
tered dots of light red at the larger end, one of them with scarcely 
any, and another with a great number. Of three nests presented 
to me by my friend THomas DurHam Werr, Esq. one is extremely 
beautiful, being composed entirely of fresh green hypna, without any 
internal layer, although, no eggs having been found in it, it pos- 
sibly had not been completed. It is of an oblong form, seven inches 
in length, and four in its transverse diameter. The mouth mea- 
sures an inch and eight-twelfths across, an inch and a twelfth in 
height. Its lower part is formed of small twigs of larch laid across and 
interwoven, so as to present a firm pediment. The longitudinal dia- 
meter of the interior is three inches and a half. Another, formed on 
a decayed tuft of Aira caspitosa, is globular, six inches in diameter, and 
composed of moss, with a lining of hair and feathers, chiefly of the do- 
mestic fowl. The third is globular, and externally formed almost en- 
tirely of ferns, like that described above. In all the nests of this spe- 
cies which I have seen, the lower part of the mouth was composed of 
twigs of trees, or stems of herbaceous plants laid across, and kept to- 
gether with moss and hair. 
“‘ The nests are found in a great variety of situations : very often in 
a recess overhung by a bank, sometimes in a crevice among stones, in 
the hole of a wall, or of a tree, among the thatch of a cottage or out- 
house, on the top of a shed or barn, the branch of a tree, whether grow- 
ing along a wall, or standing free, among ivy, honeysuckle, clematis, 
or other climbing plants. When the nest is on the ground, its base 
is generally formed of leaves, twigs, and straws, and its exterior is 
often similar ; but when otherwise, the outer surface is generally smooth 
and chiefly composed of moss. 
“The number of eggs which it lays has been variously stated by au- 
thors. Mr Wer says that, although it is commonly seven or eight, 
so many as sixteen or seventeen have been found in its nest. “ Ro- 
BERT SMITH, weaver in Bathgate, told me, that a few years ago, he saw 
in a nest, which was built on the bank of a rivulet about two miles from 
Linlithgow, seventeen eggs; and James D. Baittre, Esq. informed 
me, that in June last, he took out of one which he discovered in a spruce 
tree, near Polkemmet House, sixteen eggs.” 
My friend Tuomas M‘Cuntocn of Pictou has presented me with 
the following curious account of a European individual of this species. 
‘“ During my residence at Spring Vale in the vicinity of Hammer- 
