I20 WOOD NOTES AND NEST HUNTING. 



minute and then settle down again in their hiding- 

 places, uttering that peculiar note, which can he 

 compared to the piping of the tree toad — a kind 

 of bubbling sound heard from no other bird throat. 

 Everything needed for building material can 

 here be found. The stout stems of the cat-o-nine- 

 tails furnish the pillars, on which the nests of these 

 wrens are firmly supported; the dry last year's 

 leaves supply the timber for the frame-work, and 

 the bundles of soft hairs that grow on the dense 

 spikes offer a bountiful quantity of chintzing stuff 

 and lining. No mud is used about the nests. 

 How long has this been an exception to the gen- 

 eral habits of the species, and when did they learn 

 to utilize the copious down for plastering, in place 

 of the ordinary cement? What a curious nest! 

 it is the size and shape of the cocoanut. On the 

 side is a hole three fourths of an inch wide, most 

 skillfully worked, the ends of the coarse sedge 

 leaves well tucked in around the edges and made 

 strong, as if these wise wrens were aware of the 

 necessity of having the threshold especially com- 

 pact and well finished to prevent it from wearing 

 out, by the contact of their sharp claws, while 

 passing to and from the nest. It is also a remark- 

 able sign of bird intelligence, that over their door- 



