CLIV. 



TR'OGLODYTES EUROPa-'.US. (CuviER.) 

 Common Wren. Kitty Wren. 



The nest of the Wren is of an oval form, arched over, and 

 protected on every side. It is a most beautiful specimen of 

 strength, warmth, and neatness ; and so compact and closely 

 interwoven, that one in my collection might be kicked about 

 the floor, without disaiTanging or disuniting those minute par- 

 ticles of moss of which it was first formed. It is usually con- 

 structed of green mosses, and from its close resemblance to 

 the situation in which it is placed, is admirably protected from 

 discovery: this is most commonly against the moss-grown 

 side of a rock, a bank, or an old tree, in the decayed side of 

 which the nest is formed; and were it not for the small hole 

 of entrance, would be regarded as only a portion of the tree. 

 I have found it in the middle of a furze or whin bush, and 

 constructed chiefly of dry grass ; sometimes covered outside 

 with ferns J and not unfrequently against the side of a 

 clover stack, formed entirely of the clover, and becoming a 

 piece of the stack itself; and were it not for the flight of the 

 bird from the spot, it would have run no risk of detection. 

 No bird is so jealous of discovery or intrusion, as the Wren. 

 Amongst a great number of nests which I have found in the 

 progress of building, I have never known one proceeded with, 

 after having been once discovered and touched ; it being quite 

 impossible to thrust the finger into the tiny entrance, without 

 disarranging the neatness and beautiful symmetry of its form. 

 This I have always found to cause its abandonment by the 

 owner; and may readily account for the number of unfinished 

 nests, which we used at school to call " cocks' nests," sup- 

 posing that they were built by the male bird, for its own 

 particular abode. 



When incubation is proceeded with, and the eggs have 



