334 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



natural dome. Wherever it can find a convenient cavity, it will 

 make its nest therein, building either no dome at all, or one of 

 very flimsy construction, and such nests can generally be found 

 in the holes of ivy-covered waUs, under eaves, or among the 

 thickly growing branches of fir-trees. 



During the time when the Wren is building its nest, its loud, 

 cheerful voice is heard in full perfection, and so full and powerful 

 are its tones that the tiny bird seems hardly able to produce 

 them. It is but a short song, and is little varied, the bird repeat- 

 ing nearly the same melody time after time within a few minutes. 

 The long-drawn song of the nightingale, or the mellow notes of 

 the thrush, are beyond the power of the Wren, but there are few 

 birds whose song is more enlivening, or which add so much to 

 the pleasure of a country walk. Besides the more formal song, 

 the Wren has a pretty little monosyllabic chirp, which it utters 

 as it pops about the hedges with its peculiar movements, drop- 

 ping and ascending again with restless activity. The bird is so 

 bold, too, that it will perch on a branch or a paling within a yard 

 or two of the observer, and pour forth its bright song without 

 displaying the least alarm. 



As to the materials of the nest, the bird is in no way fastidious, 

 and generally seems to regard quantity rather than quality. 

 Grasses of various kinds usually form the bulk of the nest, 

 together with mosses, lichens, and similar substances. Withered 

 leaves are generally worked into the nest, and I have more than 

 once found specimens which were almost wholly composed of 

 leaves. The size of the nest is wonderfully large, when the 

 dimensions of the tiny architect are taken into consideration, 

 and however large may be the hole in which the Wren makes 

 its nest, it is nearly filled with the mass of grass, leaves, and 

 wool which the Wren has conveyed into it. The interior of the 

 nest is always warmly lined, sometimes with feathers, and some- 

 times with hair, and in the lining are generally some six or eight 

 little eggs, nearly white, and covered with very minute red specks. 



Probably, the very large mass of material is employed in order 

 to defend so small a bird from the inclemency of the season, for 

 the Wren stays with \is throughout the year, and in the winter 

 time resides in the same nest which was used as a breeding place 

 during the summer. If an old ivy-covered wall, or a haystack, 

 or an old house, be examined at night, there will often be found 



