g of hair or feathers is
ever completed, or has any eggs in it. This I have verified in a
hundred instances, when, having found Wrens' nests, I have visited
them again at intervals, for the purpose of ascertaining whether
my opinion of cock-nests was correct.

Farther, in a small wood adjoining my garden, where I was certain
there was only one pair of Wrens, I found at least half-a-dozen
nests, not one of which was either lined with feathers or ever had
eggs in it; although I discovered they were not all deserted, as I
found an old bird roosting in one of them. I was induced to be
more particular in my remarks in consequence of my seeing Mr.
Jennings's remarks in the "Magazine of Natural History;" and I
searched, as I supposed, every bank, bush, and stump in the wood
two or three times before I could find the breeding-nest, which I
at last discovered in the twigs of a willow on the bank of the
river, in the centre of a bunch of tangled grass, cotton waste,
and straws which had been left there by the floods, and which the
bird had apparently excavated and in it formed its nest, which was
profusely lined with rooks' feathers.

The fear of being thought tedious prevents my giving other facts
which tend, as I think, to prove the correctness of my opinion;
however, I will just add that all the persons with whom I have
conversed who take an interest in such pursuits, agree with me in
opinion in this matter.

The nest I have just spoken of was also a strong proof that Wrens,
although they may not always adapt their materials to the locality
they have chosen for a nest, frequently do so; and if this is not
with the intention of concealing it, but merely because the
materials are at hand, it serves the purpose of concealment also,
and very effectually. The one I am speaking of was so exactly like
the other lumps of rubbish which had been left by the floods in
the same bush, that I did not discover that it was a Wren's nest
until I had pulled it out of the twigs; and if a Wren builds its
nest in a haystack--which it frequently does--the front of the
nest is almost invariably composed of the hay from the stack,
which prevents its being seen much more effectually than if the
moss of which the body of the nest is composed were visible on the
outside.

The fact that the long-tailed tits occasionally associate to the
number of six or seven, and have a nest in common, which is
mentioned in the same page of the "Magazine of Natur