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WRENS’ NESTS.

In Mr. Rennie’s edition of Montagu’s Dictionary, and also in his “Architecture of Birds,” after copying what I have said on the subject of Wrens’ nests being lined with feathers, he says:—­ “There can be no doubt, I apprehend, of these supposed cock-nests being nothing more than the unfinished structures of paired birds; otherwise the story would require the support of strong evidence to render it credible.”  Mr. Rennie afterwards goes on to say that in two instances he had seen nests which had about half-a-dozen feathers interwoven into the linings with hair; and Mr. Jennings, if I recollect aright, as I have not the work to refer to at present, says that Wrens don’t line their nests with anything but moss, and he thinks Montagu is in error when he says they are lined with feathers.  Along with this I send you three or four Wrens’ nests, which you will perceive have abundance of feathers in the inside; and although the Wren will occasionally use cows’ hair along with the feathers, yet I am persuaded from the localities in which I have met with them, that cows’ hair has been used because feathers were not to be found; but when the nests are in the vicinity of a rookery, a farm-yard, or any other locality where feathers are abundant, the Wrens will use them exclusively.  What the “strong evidence” must be which will convince Mr. Rennie about cock-nests, I don’t know; but I know of a dozen of these nests at the present moment, several of which have remained in the state in which they were left in the middle of April.  Other nests found about the same time have now young ones in them.  I doubt not these nests are occasionally used for breeding in:  for instance, if the first nest of a Wren be taken, or if it breed a second time, it will occasionally take possession of a cock-nest; as I have sometimes found that after remaining in the same unfinished state for several weeks, they have afterwards been fitted up with a lining, and bred in.

Mr. Rennie asserts that Montagu is wrong when he says that the Wren always adapts its materials to its locality.  Although it certainly is not always the case, yet so very generally is it so, that I think it is not surprising that Montagu made this assertion.

Thus, if a Wren build in a haystack, the front of the nest is generally composed of the hay from the stack; if it be built in a bush by the side of a river, and (which is frequently the case) below flood mark, it is generally covered on the outside with the rubbish which has been left there by the flood; and if it build in a mossy stump, the front of the nest is composed of the dark-coloured moss which grows there. (May 22, 1832.)