BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 157 



in the morning, nor does it cease its warble till 

 late in the evening. It sings most part of the year, 

 even in winter ; and sometimes, during a fall of 

 snow, it pours out its little roundelay. Some of 

 these birds retire to sequestered places to build ; 

 others keep near the habitation of man, where 

 they may be seen flitting among the roots of 

 hazel, hawthorn, and tangled brushwood, near mills 

 and cottages ; they also haunt sandy banks by the 

 sides of rivulets and mill-streams. Their principal 

 food is insects ; but in winter, like the redbreast, 

 they approach cottages to pick up crums, &c. 

 They also pick bones that have been thrown out 

 from houses ; and it is curious to see one of these 

 birds busy in the orbit of a sheep's skull. We have 

 also observed a blue titmouse do the same thing. 

 The wren sometimes builds in fir-trees, but often 

 under banks amongst the roots of trees, or in the 

 thatch of old cottages, stables, and other out- 

 houses ; but, what is curious in the manners of 

 this little bird, instinct directs it to adapt the ma- 

 terials of its nest to the place it has chosen for 

 the purposes of incubation : If in a hay rick, it is 

 composed of hay ; if against the trunk of a tree 

 that is covered with grey lichen, then the exterior 

 is formed of that plant ; if in a bank, it is made 

 of green moss, but always invariably lined witli 



