S52 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



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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, dropping 

 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 dis- 

 playing 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, to- 

 gether 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 di- 

 mensions 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 al- 

 ways warmly lined, sometimes with feathers and sometimes 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 us 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 

 certain pseudo-nests in which the Wren hides itself. These curi- 

 ous edifices are raised by the Wren, though they are never used 

 for the legitimate object of a nest, and the reason of their con- 

 struction is not very evident. In all probability they are the 

 work of young and inexperienced nest-builders, who begin to 

 make their home, and when they have proceeded with their work, 

 find that the locality is unsuitable, and that they must find anoth- 

 er spot. The juvenile bird-nester is often woefully disappointed 

 by finding these nests, especially if he finds three or four in a sin- 

 gle wall or stack, as is not unfrequently the case. 



As is the case with the redbreast and one or two of our more 

 familiar birds, the Wren will sometimes enter houses and build 



