114 
THE WREN AND HIS NEST. 
COMMON WRENS. 
laid by the mother- wren varies 
There is something mouse-like in his 
evolutions, and in his manner of com- 
ing and going, appearing and dis- 
appearing. He is lively, restless, 
always in a hurry, always with an 
air of business ; and goes about with 
tail erect, like a domestic cock. The 
minute inspection to which he subjects 
old posts, the arches of bridges, and 
mouldering walls, is for the purpose 
of discovering the larvse of insects 
which find shelter, late in the year, 
in the crevices of the bark and the 
tissures of the cement. As winter 
draws on apace, and the temperature 
lowers, the wren abandons the groves 
and hedges, and frequents the neigh- 
bourhood of the farms ; in the dark 
winter-days he will penetrate even 
into inhabited rooms, and make booty 
of the gnats and flies which have 
sought there an asylum. 
The nest which he builds is cup- 
shaped, something like that of the tit- 
mouse ; with an exterior coat of green 
moss and a lining of feathers within. 
It may often be found among the 
briers, rose-bushes, brambles, in the 
forks of trees, the cornei-s of walls, 
the mossy trunks of venerable oaks; 
but more generally in the perforated 
beams of barns, thatched roofs, holes 
of walls, undei'neath the tiles, among 
wood-heaps. The number of the eggs 
from six to twelve. 
