THE MOCKING BIRD—-THE WREN. 255

frequently imposed upon by this admirable mimic, and are
decoyed by the fancied calls of their mates, or dive with
precipitation into the depth of thickets at the scream of what
they suppose to be the sparrow-hawk.”
The Tailor The Tailor Bird is a small bird of no very
Bird. remarkable appearance, but it is singular from
its habit of sewing leaves together in forming its nest. This it
does by using its beak as a needle, and certain vegetable fibres
as thread, and sewing the edges of leaves together in the form
of a pocket, in which it deposits its eggs and rears its young.
The Golden The Golden Crested Wren is the smallest
Crested Wren. of British Birds, and it is one of the most
beautiful, acccording to Mrs. Bowdich it only weighs eighty
grains. It is peculiar among British birds for suspending its
nest to the boughsoftrees. Its nestisan elegant structure, some-
times open at the top, sometimes covered with a dome, having
an entrance at the side. It is a tame bird, and often visits
country gardens where it may be distinguished by its green and
yellow coat with white facings, and its golden crest. Captain
Brown says: “its song is weak and intermittent, yet sweet as
that which fancy attributes to the fairy on the moonlight hill.”
The Captain Brown, quoting from “Selby’s Omitho-
Migration logy”, gives an interesting account of the way in
of Birds. which our native birds are reinforced from other
countries.“ On the 24th and 25th of October, 1822,” says Mr.
Selby, “after a very severe gale, with thick fog, from the
North East, (but veering, towards its conclusion, to the east
and south of east,) thousands of these birds were seen to
arrive upon the sea-shore and sand-banks of the Northum-
brian coast; many of them so fatigued by the length of
their flight, or perhaps by the unfavourable shift of wind, as
to be unable to rise again from the ground, and great num-
bers were in consequence caught or destroyed. This flight
must have been immensely numerous, as its extent was traced
through the whole length of the coasts of Northumberland