OF BIRDS. 
163 
WREN. 
The Wren is a very small bird, but, as if 
nature had intended to compensate the want 
of size and bulk in the individuals, by mul- 
tiplying them to a greater amount, this little 
bird is perhaps one of the most prolific; for 
the nest, which is of the shape of an egg, 
erect upon one end, contains often upwards 
of eighteen eggs of a whitish colour, and 
not much larger tHhn a pea. The male and 
female enter this repository by a hole con- 
trived in the middle of the nest, and which, 
by its situation and size is accessible to none 
besides themselves It is strange to admi- 
ration, that so small a bird should be able to 
hatch so many eggs under the confined space 
of her little breast ; and what attention, what 
care is wanted to rear so large a family. 
