244 



HAY-BIRD. 



* I have now before me half a dozen specimens of these nests, two 

 of which are rather peculiar. The usual materials of the nest (which, 

 like that of the chiff-chaff, is built in a sloping bank or at the root of 

 a tree or bush) are a frame-work of dried grass stems, intermixed with 

 a few bits of green moss, (Hypnum prcelongum^ &c.,) and sometimes a 

 few leaves or thin flexible slips of birch bark, with a warm lining of 

 soft feathers within, laid more loosely than is usual in such nests. The 

 entrance, which is in front, immediately under the arched dome, is con- 

 siderably wider than that of the common wren, though the bird itself 

 is no thicker, but a trifle longer in the body. This fact accords ill with 

 the common doctrine of these domed nests being contrived to prevent 

 the entrance of snakes, which, indeed, frequent the same localities ; and 

 we saw a snake (coluber natrix) close by one of these very nests, but 

 having just swallowed a frog twice as thick as its own body, it probably 

 had no relish for the tiny eggs of the wren. Of these two anomalous 

 nests above alluded to, one has a frame-work chiefly composed of small 

 fibrous roots, instead of the dried grass, which has obtained for this wren 

 the provincial name of Hay-Bird, in the same way as the white-throats 

 are called hay-tits. The same wren is also called the bee-bird, not from 

 its preying upon bees, which are too bulky for its slender bill, but 

 because it builds a similar nest of moss or dried grass to the carder bee 

 (Bombus Muscorum, Latreille.)* This root-nest is lined with soft 

 feathers as usual. Another of these nests is a much more compact 

 structure than the Hay-bird commonly makes, being formed of long 

 thin slips of bass. 2 



The eggs are six or seven number; white, spotted with light rust- 

 colour towards the larger end; others are sprinkled all over; their 

 weight sixteen or eighteen grains. The plumage of this species is so 

 like that of the chiff-chaff, that were it not for its superior size, it 

 would be difficult to distinguish them. The size and the colour of the 

 legs, are, however, an unerring mark of distinction. It has also been 

 frequently confounded with the wood-wren, but each have their essen- 

 tial characters, as will be found by referring to the description of those 

 species. 



The eggs of this bird are readily distinguished from that of the chiff- 

 chaff, by having spots of a rust-colour, while those of the latter have 

 invariably dark purple spots. 



* " In the wild state," says Sweet, " it feeds entirely on small insects, 



1 See Insect Architecture, pp. 65, 66. 

 2 Architecture of Birds. Chap, on Dome Builders, p. 315. 



