158 , TREATISE ON 



feathers : We have had them frequently on fir- 

 trees and in banks ; these were always of green 

 moss. Those on trees are like a bunch of green 

 moss, eight or ten inches in diameter, with a small 

 hole on one side of it. 



The wren does not, like other birds, begin at 

 the bottom of the nest, and build upwards, but 

 lays, as it were, the frame-work, and roofs it in, 

 and then covers it all over, excepting a hole at the 

 side for entrance. In this warm fabric the hen 

 deposits from eight to sixteen eggs : they are a 

 little larger than the golden-crested wren's, are 

 white, and freckled with small spots of a reddish 

 orange-colour. As soon as the young are hatched, 

 the parents may be seen flitting to and fro every 

 two or three minutes, with insects in their bills 

 for their tiny brood, and this from morning to 

 night during twelve or fourteen days together, 

 with only a few hours' intermission in the course 

 of the twenty-four. How astonishing that the 

 little wing is not wearied by the exertion ! How 

 wonderful that sixteen bills in this dark recess 

 should be recognised by the parent, and not one^ 

 of its brood starved, and not one overfed ! But the 

 ways of Providence are wise as well as wonderful. 

 Instinct, in some respects, seems less liable to error 

 than the boasted reason of man. For we know 



