78 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [cHap. Ix. 
observer would suppose, and this, even amongst the commonest 
of our native birds. The wren, for instance, always adapts her 
nest to the colour and appearance of the surrounding foliage, or 
whatever else may be near the large and comfortable abode 
which she forms for her tiny family. In a beech-hedge near the 
house, in which the leaves of the last year still remain at the 
time when the birds commence building, the wrens form the out- 
side of their nests entirely of the withered leaves of the beech, so 
that, large as it is, the passer by would never take it for anything 
more than a chance collection of leaves heaped together, and 
though the nest is as firm and strong as possible, they manage to 
give it the look of a confused mass of leaves, instead of a round 
and compact ball, which it really is. The wren also builds near 
the ground, about the lower branches of shrubs which are over- 
grown and surrounded with long grass: in these situations she 
forms her nest of the long withered grass itself, and twines and 
arches it over her roof, in a manner which would deceive the 
eyes of any animal, excepting those of boys. When her nest is 
built, as it often is, in a spruce fir-tree, she covers the outside 
with green moss, which of all the substances she could select is 
the one most resembling the foliage of the spruce: the interior 
of the wren’s nest is a perfect mass of feathers and soft sub- 
stances. 
The chaffinch builds usually in the apple-trees, whose lichen- 
covered branches she imitates closely, by covering her nest with 
the lichens and moss of a similar colour. Even her eggs are 
much of the same hue. Sometimes this bird builds in the wall- 
fruit trees, when she collects substances of exactly the same 
colour as the wall itself. 
The greenfinch, building amongst the green foliage of trees, 
covers her nest with green moss, while her eggs resemble in 
colour the lining on which they are laid. The yellow-hammer, 
again, builds on or near the ground, and forming her nest out- 
wardly of dried grass and fibres, like those by which it is sur- 
rounded, lines it with horsehair; her eggs too are not unlike in 
colour to her nest—while the greenish brown of the bird herself 
closely resembles the colour of the grass and twigs about her. 
The little whitethroat builds her nest on the ground, at the 
root of a tree or in long withered grass, and carefully arches it 
