NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



never intended to be anything else by 

 its builder. 



Wrens build in all kinds of situations 

 — amongst ivy growing upon walls and 

 round the trunks of trees, in the thatches 

 and sides of ricks, in holes in walls, in 

 banks amongst rocks, in hedges, amongst 

 the rafters of barns, and even in coils of 

 old rope and disused garments hanging 

 up in sheds. 



When the nest is built in a mossy bank 

 the outside is generally made of moss ] 

 when in the front of a hayrick it is made 

 of straws ; and when amongst a few 

 slender twigs sprouting from the place 

 where some large bough has been sawn 

 from the trunk of a tree, of dead leaves. 

 These studied attempts, for such they 

 would seem, at concealment do not, how- 

 ever, always hold good, for I have occa- 

 sionally found one made of moss in the 

 side of a hayrick. 



" Jenny " Wren is a very industrious 

 builder. One day I was resting inside 

 an old tumble-down summer-house built 

 into a steep hillside in a Surrey park, 

 when, to my consternation, I saw a big 

 black feather coming straight as a par- 

 tridge towards me. There was not a 

 breath of wind blowing at the time, and 

 64 



