M^OOD WREN. 
133 
species, as the bird was sitting on her nest when observed, 
and the distribution and colours of her plumage were dis¬ 
tinctly seen. The nest was placed among the dead branches 
of an old bramble, shaded above by living stems of the same, 
in a wild hedge-bank overgrown by honeysuckles and other 
luxuriant vegetation. The nest, which was very near the 
surface of the bank, although not resting upon it, was com¬ 
posed of tufts of dry grass with their roots and seed tops, 
and lined very thickly with fine fibrous roots and a few 
horse-hairs; it contained four eggs. These are greenish 
white in the ground-colour, sprinkled over the whole sur¬ 
face with pale reddish brown ; a zone of dark grey spots 
encircles the larger end, and many darker spots of rich brown 
are mingled with it, and scattered over the rest of the egg. 
These eggs are of a roundish form, and measure in length 
seven and a half lines. They weighed when taken about 
twenty-two grains each. The nest much resembles in size 
and appearance that of a whitethroat, being but little thicker 
in substance ; but differs in being so thickly lined with roots, 
and in not being constructed with galium, which almost 
invariably enters into the composition of the whitethroat’s 
nest. It is singular, that at the time this specimen was 
taken, another exactly similar in materials and appearance 
was observed placed on the ground beneath the same bush, 
a nest of the previous year. 
The call-note of this species, which greatly resembles that 
of the chilf-chafF, is a soft piping note; hoo-id or hwid! 
hwid! The same note is also used as the alarm-cry when 
the nest is approached. This alarm-note, or cry of solicitude, 
appears common to several birds: it is similar to that used 
by the nightingale as soon as her young are hatched; but 
with this last species it is always accompanied with their 
croaking note, kurrrr! Besides this note, the Wood Wren 
has another peculiarly its own, which distinguishes it from 
