AVILLOW \yREN. 
189 
This species builds its spherical nest either on or very near 
the ground, choosing a situation where the ground is well 
covered with some low vegetation. It is sometimes sheltered 
beneath the branches of a felled tree, or beside a clod of earth, 
and is in most cases built to harmonize with the surrounding 
herbage, and hooded over with the same materials, like that 
of the chiff-chafF. Sometimes it is well concealed; but we 
have found specimens in which the eggs could plainly be seen 
in passing. It appears as if in a sheltered spot less care was 
taken to conceal them; while in a more open situation, such 
as the hollow of a cart-rut, the nest is sometimes found 
almost entirely closed, like that of a field-mouse. The struc¬ 
ture is tolerably firm, composed of dry grass, moss, dead 
fern, or leaves; the interior round and deep, lined with 
horse-hair, wool and large feathers. The feathers chosen 
are usually those of the partridge, pheasant, or pigeon, and 
in the vicinity of a farm-yard the feathers of domestic fowls 
are frequently employed. In the latter end of April, the 
eggs may be found six or seven in number: they are rather 
round in form, the shell a little polished, and sprinkled all 
over with rust-coloured faint marks on a cream-coloured 
ground. There are supposed to be two broods iu the year, 
the first of which is hatched in the beginning of May. In 
many nests of the Willow Wren that we have seen, no percepti¬ 
ble difference in the colour or form of the eggs has been ob¬ 
served. 
The colours of this delicate little bird are, on the upper- 
parts olive brown, including the top of the head and nape, 
the back, scapulars and upper coverts of the tail: the greater- 
coverts of the wings and the tertials, hair brown, bordered a 
little lighter : the quill feathers of the tail and wings, and 
the secondary quills are brown, with the edges a little lighter. 
The tail is slightly forked. The wing has the first feather 
about six lines in length; the second, three lines shorter than 
