WREN 
77 
about the larger end with reddish-brown, this tint 
being a good deal more of a brown and less of a 
red than that of the markings on a Willow Wren's 
egg, or any of the Tits', which they otherwise 
rather closely resemble in some cases. It is not 
uncommon for them to have no spots at all. For 
every lined and completed Wren's nest which is 
found there are half-a-dozen which never get 
beyond the stage of unlined shells. Though the 
exact meaning and purpose of these so-called 
*' cocks' nests " is not yet very clearly known, they 
are not merely ordinary nests which have been 
deserted half-way through. In a good many birds 
traces are seen of a habit of building nest-like 
structures for courtship, distinct from the regular 
nests in which they bring up their young, the 
best-known examples of this being the strangely 
decorated runs and tunnels of the Australian 
Bower-birds. Very probably the numerous " sham " 
Wren's nests are bowers or pavilions of this kind. 
As a rule, the Wren does not make its true nest by 
lining and finishing one of these bower-nests, but 
builds a new one from start to finish. But I 
have known such a long time (nearly four weeks) 
to elapse between the date at which the shell of a 
nest was finished, and the lining subsequently put 
in, and eggs laid, that it looks as if in some cases, 
at any rate, a nest originally built for a bower may 
