200 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
The position of the nest, too, conceals its true form so well, 
that a very practised eye is needed to distinguish it from an 
ordinary swelling of the bough, or from the heaps of dislodged : 
twigs which are so often found in the forked branches of trees. 
. 
Another of our feathered dome-builders is the common 
Wren (Troglodytes vulgaris ). The form and colouring of this 
bird are too well known to need description, and we shall ; 
therefore pass at once to its mode of nesting. 
The Wren is rather peculiar in its method of constructing 
the nest, for though it can build a dome when there is need 
for it, and generally does so, it does not always choose to take 
so much trouble, but contents itself with an open nest arched 
over by a natural dome. Wherever it can find a convenient 
cavity, it will make its nest therein, building either no dome at 
all, or one of very flimsy construction, and such nests can 
generally be found in the holes of ivy-covered walls, under 
eaves, or among the thickly growing branches of fir-trees. 
During the time when the Wren is building its nest, its j 
loud, cheerful voice is heard in full perfection, and so full and 
powerful are its tones that the tiny bird seems hardly able to 
produce them. It is but a short song, and is little varied, the 
bird repeating nearly the same melody time after time within a 
few minutes. The long-drawn song of the nightingale, or the 
mellow notes of the thrush, are beyond the power of the Wren, 
but there are few birds whose song is more enlivening, or which 
add so much to the pleasure of a country walk. Besides the 
more formal song, the Wren has a pretty little monosyllabic 
chirp, which it utters as it pops about the hedges with its pecu- 
liar movements, dropping and ascending again with restless 
activity. The bird is so bold, too, that it will perch on a 
branch or a paling within a yard or two of the observer, 
and pour forth its bright song without displaying the least 
alarm. 
As to the materials of the nest, the bird is no way fasti 
dious, and generally seems to regard quantity rather thar 
quality. Grasses of various kinds usually form the bulk of th 
