The structure is dome-shaped with a hole in front, and is composed of dead grass, moss, and occasionally a few dead leaves and fern fronds lined internally with hair and a liberal number of feathers. On one occasion I examined the lining of a Willow Wren’s nest and found that it contained feathers from seven different species of birds, and some of them had been collected by the builder at a considerable distance. The eggs, numbering from four to eight, are white, spotted with pale rusty-red, whereas those of the Chiffchaff, with which they are most likely to be confused on account of the similarity of the nests built by the birds, are marked with dark purplish-brown. The Willow Wren is one of the brightest and sweetest carol singers visiting our shores. Although its song is short and contains but little variety, there is a sprightliness and simplicity about it that never fails to charm. I always associate the bird’s thrice-welcome notes with the babbling alder-fringed trout streams of my youth, spring sunshine, and the sweet freshness of expanding leaves. [Illustration: WILLOW WREN BRINGING FOOD TO YOUNG IN NEST.] John Burroughs, the great American ornithologist, who once came over here to study the song birds of our country, said, “The Willow Wren has a long, tender, delicious warble, not wanting in strength and volume, but eminently pure and sweet--the song of the Chaffinch refined and idealised.... It mounts up round and full, then runs down the scale and expires upon the air in a gentle murmur.” Willow Wrens proclaim their presence directly they arrive in this country by commencing to sing, and continue to do so until the end of July. I have heard one, together with a Robin and a Song Thrush, carolling in my garden to-day--the 16th of August. After moulting, they commence their music again in September, so they are not long silent. The song varies, like that of many other melodists, in different parts of the country, and is sometimes uttered on the wing. The alarm note is a plaintive _t-wheet_, with the first _t_ suggested rather than sounded. [Illustration: landscape with river] =THE HEDGE SPARROW.= [Illustration: spike of flowers] Although a soft-billed species, much more closely related to the Robin than the Sparrow, this bird has enjoyed its popular name so long that it is likely to be known by it to the end of time. It also has two or three others, such as Hedge Accentor, used almost exclusively by ornithologists, and Dunnock and Shufflewing, which are more or less local. It is common nearly all over the country--though I have never met with it in either the Outer Hebrides or the Shetlands--inhabiting gardens, orchards, hedgerows, and woods.