Part 2

The Common Wild Duck is also liable to depart widely from her usual habit in the selection of a site for her nest, sometimes adopting a Crow's nest, and even the tower of a church, which latter has occasioned much speculation amongst naturalists as to how the parent bird managed to convey her progeny safely to water.

The Fly-catcher is amongst the foremost of our eccentric birds in the choice of breeding quarters, its nest having been found in street lamps in different parts of the country, and in one instance on the head of a hoe hanging against the wall of a tool-house. The nest was removed whilst the hoe was being used, and, when replaced, the birds, instead of deserting it, resumed operations, and eventually reared their brood.

Another very interesting curiosity of recent date occurred in the neighbourhood of Skegness, where a pair of Marsh Titmice selected a farmer's letter-box for incubation purposes, and although it was opened twice daily, and the materials with which the birds began to build were several times cleared away, they doggedly persisted in their efforts, and eventually succeeded in making a nest and depositing the usual number of eggs.

One of the strangest cases of all, and I should think the most remarkable on well-authenticated record, recently occurred near Colchester, where a pair of Common Wrens built their nest inside the skeleton of a hooded crow, which had been brought to justice and hung up as a warning to other winged depredators.

These odd positions and situations are evidently not chosen for purposes of concealment from man, at any rate; indeed, it is a question whether some of them are not adopted to secure the advantage his presence affords against the incursions of predatory birds and animals. And, on the other hand, if these seeming departures from instinct be admitted as due to reason, it seems strange that whilst some birds are capable of this, others exhibit what seems to human understanding profound stupidity. I have known birds vainly try to build in positions where it was impossible for a nest to rest, each piece of material falling to the ground, until sufficient had been collected for a great many nests; yet the bird kept on collecting sticks, moss, and grasses, until probably she was obliged to drop her eggs in the fields. This is not a solitary instance, nor only once attempted, for close observation proved that the same inexplicably vain effort was continued from year to year, but whether by the same birds or not it is of course impossible to say.

Some birds show a remarkable love for the same situation, in which they nest year after year for an incredible length of time. The same place is known to have been used by falcons for about a century and a quarter, and likely to continue if the birds are not molested. Blue Titmice are known to have selected the same quarters over a hundred years in unbroken succession.

=On Forming a Collection.=--My concluding remarks will be devoted to the guidance of such as require to make a collection of eggs.

Keep close watch on the building operations of the birds whose eggs are required. Dippers, Thrushes, and many others commence early in the spring, especially after a mild winter.

Take only _one_ specimen, and not until you have reason to believe the bird has done laying. Never under any circumstances take an egg when you have ground to suppose incubation has commenced, or is in an advanced stage, for besides the cruelty of the thing, it will often be of no use.

The specimen being secured, it is taken for granted the collector is furnished with the necessary drill and blow-pipe, procurable at any naturalist's shop. The next proceeding is to drill a small hole exactly on the side of the egg, selecting that of a spotted one with the least characteristic marks on it. Then insert the end of the blow-pipe, or rather direct the current of air sent through it into the hole made, being careful with small eggs not to burst them, or squeeze them until they collapse under the pressure of the fingers. When the contents have been emptied wash the egg out with clean water, introduced through the blow-pipe, being careful not to wet the outside more than necessary, or rub it too much, as the beautiful colouring of many eggs is easily displaced. When the egg has been blown, and properly dried inside and out, an operation needing some care, the hole should be covered over with a neat piece of gummed paper, on which the name of the specimen may be written, this being found especially useful when eggs of different kinds get mixed.

A small label should also be attached to the compartment allotted to each egg in the cabinet, bearing the name, locality in which it was found, and date, as such memoranda are often very useful, and inculcate habits of systematic study and storage of information sometimes impossible to remember. Besides this, a very good plan is to keep a note-book in which to enter such particulars and data concerning each specimen as may prove of utility or interest in the study of oology.

Of course it is impossible to obtain many specimens, which are seldom or never found in certain districts, therefore it is necessary to buy such eggs, or exchange through the medium of advertisement, with collectors equally glad to avail themselves of such an arrangement.

I have no doubt about the pleasure a study of the subject affords, and if my little book assists to heighten it in any way I shall be satisfied.

R. KEARTON.

BIRDS' NESTS AND EGGS

THE GOLDFINCH.

This beautiful little bird builds a nest of the first rank in point of constructive skill and neatness. Though it breeds at a surprisingly rapid rate, it is a regrettable fact to learn that its numbers are gradually becoming smaller in this country, and mainly through the profit its capture affords. Despite being much harassed by the bird-catching fraternity to supply the demand for it as a cage pet, if not actually approving of confinement, it seems to prefer the close proximity of man, often selecting as a nesting situation gardens and orchards, and has even been known to build in rose-bushes and other trees trained against a dwelling-house. The nest is composed of moss, a little hay and wool, lined with seed-down of the willow and hair neatly woven together. The eggs are four or five in number; white tinged with blue, and spotted at the larger end with raw sienna.

THE MAGPIE.

The Magpie builds her nest on the tops of very tall trees, but it has sometimes been found in comparatively small bushes. It is large, domed, and almost spherical in shape, composed of brambles, thorny sticks, clay, and finer sticks, and lined inside with dead grass and fibrous roots; it has a hole on the side. She lays six or seven eggs of a dirty light blue, spotted with yellowish-brown all over.

THE BULLFINCH.

This bird lays four or five eggs of a pale blue colour, spotted and streaked with raw sienna, brown, or purple. The nest is made of twigs and fibrous roots, and lined with horsehair; it is situated in thick garden and other hedges. The female sits very close, so that she may even be touched without leaving the nest.

THE STARLING.

The Starling makes her nest of hay, straw, and fibrous roots; her favourite haunts are the gable-ends of old houses, cliffs, and hollow trees. She lays four or five eggs of a beautiful light blue, tinged with green. If she is left undisturbed, she will use the same nest for several years, with a little repairing each spring. She is very affectionate to her young, and works in hearty co-operation with her mate to procure them food, which is an enormous quantity in the course of a day.

THE CHAFFINCH.

The Chaffinch generally builds her nest in the forks of trees covered with lichens; it is made of moss, wool, and lichen, the inside being lined with hair and feathers. She makes a beautiful nest, small but deep, and it harmonizes so much with its situation that it is often difficult to find. She lays four or five eggs of a grayish-blue, spotted and streaked with a dirty purple-red. She sits very close, in fact I once knew a bird remain on her nest till a mischievous boy caught her by the tail, pulling it out as she rose to fly; and she returned and reared her young after that.

THE RAVEN.

The Raven lays five or six eggs of a gray-green ground colour, spotted and blotched with a darker greenish or smoky brown. She builds her nest in high, inaccessible rocks and cliffs, either on the sea-shore or inland, and it is sometimes found on the tops of lofty trees. It is composed of sticks of various sizes and kinds, wool, and hair.

THE LINNET.

This little bird lays from four to six eggs of a whitish faint blue tinge, speckled with purple-red, and her nest is composed of moss, bent fibrous roots, and wool, lined inside with hair and feathers. She builds in whitethorn, blackthorn, and furze-bushes; very rarely in trees.

THE ROOK.

The Rook lays four or five eggs of a pale green colour, spotted and blotched with greenish or smoky brown. She makes her nest of sticks, straw, hay, &c., and is rather particular about it, pulling it to pieces and rebuilding it several times. Tall trees are usually selected, generally near to some mansion or village, where the rooks form a colony. This bird lays very early, and has been known to commence sitting even in November.

THE COMMON WREN.

This little bird lays four to eight eggs of a yellowish-white tinge, spotted at the larger end with a kind of brownish-red. It builds several supplementary nests, which are simply made of moss and lichen; this is attributed to the male bird by some naturalists; but however this may be, as a rule two of these nests will be found to one of the others lined with feathers, which is intended for incubation. The nest is built in old barns, on the sides of cliffs, and in the roots of trees growing from high banks; it is dome-shaped, and has a very small entrance.

THE JAY.

The Jay lays five or six eggs of a pale greenish-blue, sometimes yellowish-white, thickly spotted with minute brown spots, generally confluent on the larger end, where there are several irregular black lines. She builds her nest in the thickest parts of woods, where it may be well out of sight. It is composed of sticks, small twigs, small fibrous roots, and grass.

THE HOUSE SPARROW.

This familiar little bird builds her nest in the walls of old stone houses, at the back of spouting, and amongst ivy. It is particularly fond of ejecting the Martin from her carefully-built home, and has been even known to turn out the eggs of this little harmless bird. She lays five or six eggs, of a dirty white, covered with black or dark brown spots.

THE JACKDAW.

The Jackdaw builds her nest in towers of churches, the ruins of old castles and abbeys, rocks, hollow trees, and chalk pits. It is made of sticks, straw, and hay, with an inner lining of large feathers, hair, and wool. The eggs, numbering from three to six, are a pale green-blue, spotted with dingy brown; the spots are confluent at the larger or thicker end.

THE COMMON GROUSE.

The Grouse lays on an average about nine eggs; as many as fifteen have been found, but this number has been by some attributed to two birds, as they will sometimes build (if we may term it such) within a yard of each other. Their nests merely consist of a little hollow scratched out, and lined with heather or bent. The eggs are of a dirty white colour, covered with umber-brown spots. Both the old birds are very cunning in trying to decoy the intruder away from the whereabouts of the nest, feigning lameness or injury.

THE KESTREL.

The Kestrel lays four to seven eggs of a dirty white, sometimes with a bluish tinge, thickly covered with reddish-brown blotches. She generally makes no nest at all, but scratches a hollow in the soft earth on a ledge of rock situated on high mountain or sea-cliffs. The deserted nest of the crow is sometimes utilised.

THE ROBIN.

This beautiful little bird, the favourite of English children, builds her nest in walls and banks, where roots and moss abound. It is composed of moss, fibrous roots, and leaves, and is sometimes lined with hair. She lays five or six eggs of a very light gray, spotted with a dull light red; sometimes these spots are very few.

THE REDPOLL.

The eggs of this bird are four or five in number, of a very pale blue-green colour, spotted about the larger end with orange-red. The eggs retain much of their pretty colour after being blown, they are of such a beautiful blue. She makes her nest of hay and moss, lined inside with willow-down, and finishes it off in the most beautiful manner. She builds her nest in willows, alders, and other bushes that fringe streams and ponds in mountainous districts.

THE RINGDOVE.

The Ringdove makes a very loose, slovenly nest of twigs and sticks, and it is sometimes so badly built that the eggs may be seen through the bottom of the nest. She builds in fir, yew, or other trees, sometimes in ivy that grows upon rocks and trees, very near the ground. She lays two white eggs of a rounded oval shape.

THE WRYNECK.

The eggs of this bird are from five to eight in number, of a pure white. She makes her nest in holes in the trunks of trees. It is made of dry, rotten wood, which is ground down to a kind of powder, and it has been found lined with moss and feathers.

THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN.

This little bird, like the others of its tribe, lays a considerable number of eggs for its small size. They are eight or nine in number, thickly spotted with reddish-brown, these spots being confluent at the larger end. The underground colour is a faint fleshy tint. Her nest is made of moss and lichens, and is lined with willow-down and feathers. The outside of the nest generally harmonises with its situation, which is amongst the branches of a tree, generally of the fir, from a branch of which the nest is usually suspended.

THE WHITETHROAT.

The Whitethroat lays four or five eggs of a greenish-white colour, spotted with brown and gray, the spots sometimes form a zone or belt round the larger end. Her nest is made of dead grass and a little hair, loosely attached, the nest being carelessly made. It is situated in low thick herbage, or amongst nettles, or other ground weeds.

THE SISKIN.

This bird lays four or five eggs of a bluish ground colour, some being spotted all over with cloudy rusty spots, others with these spots well-defined about the larger end. Her nest is made of green moss, small twigs, dried grass, and sometimes lined with feathers and rabbits'-down. The nest is rarely found in Britain; its usual situation is amongst furze-bushes.

THE THRUSH.

The Thrush builds her nest in hedges, banks, against the trunks of trees, in stone walls, and is fond of ivy against trees or rocks. Her nest is made of grass and moss, the interior being lined with clay or cow-dung, in which are sometimes found pieces of decayed wood. She lays from four to six eggs, of a beautiful blue spotted with black, most of the spots being on the thick end of the egg.

THE GREENFINCH.

This bird lays four or five eggs, which are white tinged with blue, and speckled at the larger end with light orange-brown. Her nest is situated in thick hedges, ivy, holly, and other evergreens. It is composed of moss and wool, and is lined with hair and feathers. The nests of these birds have been found so close that the material of two was interwoven together.

THE REDSTART.

The nest of this bird is made of moss lined with hair and feathers. It is situated in holes in rocks, walls, trees, stables, and barns; and the bird has been known to build in a plant pot with the bottom upwards, entering through the hole. She lays from five to seven eggs, of a pale bluish-green, unspotted.

THE BLACKBIRD.

The Blackbird builds her nest in stone walls, holly bushes, hedges, and amongst ivy. It is made with small twigs, roots, and cow-dung or clay intermixed, and lined inside with very fine slender grass. She has been known to try to build on the side of a cliff, where the sticks, &c., would not remain, but have fallen down until there was enough to make half-a-dozen nests, yet the bird continued to bring fresh material. She lays four, five, and rarely six eggs of a dull bluish-green, spotted all over with brown blotches.

THE GREAT TIT.

The eggs of this bird are from six to twelve in number; their colour is white, spotted with a reddish-brown. The nest is composed of moss, feathers, and hair, and is situated in holes in walls and trees. The bird has been known to make these holes herself in the trunk of a tree, working with great diligence and rapidity until she had finished.

THE TEAL.

The Teal builds its nest where rushes are abundant, chiefly on marshes in Scotland and the north of England. The nest is composed of large quantities of dried sedges, flags, and other water plants, and is lined with feathers. The bird lays eight or ten eggs, which are buffish or creamy-white, sometimes faintly tinged with green.

THE NUTHATCH.

This bird lays from five to seven eggs in number, of a pure white spotted with red-brown. They are very often mistaken for the eggs of the Great Titmouse. The nest is made of the dried leaves of the oak, apple, elm, &c., carelessly arranged. It is situated in a hole of a decaying tree, and if too large at the entrance the bird plasters it up until she can just get in and out comfortably.

THE COMMON SEA-GULL.

This bird lays two, and sometimes three eggs, of a pale green or a yellowish-white colour, irregularly blotched with gray and blackish-brown. Her nest is made of seaweed, dry grass, &c., and is found on sea-cliffs and bold rocky headlands, such as St. Abb's Head in Berwickshire.

THE GREEN WOODPECKER.

The eggs of this bird are three or four in number, of a very light bluish-tinged white colour. Her nest is made entirely of the pieces of wood chipped off by the bird in her boring operations. It is placed in the trunk of a tree, frequently in a hole which the bird herself has previously excavated, and perhaps used before. She seems to have a particular liking for the aspen and black poplar tree.

THE KINGFISHER.

This bird lays six or seven eggs, nearly round, white and shining. When fresh and unblown, the yolk shows through the shell, and gives it a beautiful pink colour, something similar to the Dipper's, but more clear and vivid. The nest is composed of the bones of fishes, and is generally in the Sandmartin's previous excavations, about three or four feet above the usual surface of the water.

THE MOORHEN.

The eggs of this familiar and semi-domestic bird are from eight to ten in number, of a pale brownish-grey, spotted with umber-brown. This bird, like the duck, when leaving the nest covers her eggs with flags and reeds, of which also the nest is made. She builds among the sedges on the banks of streams and ponds, and sometimes in trees. Nests have often been found in willow-branches which touch and float upon the water.

THE NIGHTINGALE.

The eggs of this bird are from four to six in number, and are usually of a yellowish olive-brown colour, unspotted, but are occasionally found blue. Her nest is made of dried leaves, lined inside with fine grass. It is situated on the ground in woods and shrubberies, especially on the little banks at the foot of trees, under the shelter of ferns or weeds.

THE LAPWING.

The Lapwing, or Green Plover, makes a very simple nest, only scratching a hole and lining it with bent or short grass. She generally makes it on a little knoll, so that it may be out of danger of being deluged, as her home is generally in swampy marshy land. She lays four eggs of a dirty-green ground, blotched all over with dark brown spots, and the colour harmonises so well with the ground, that it is sometimes very difficult for the collector to see them even when looking close to where they are.

THE BARN OWL.

The Barn Owl lays two eggs at a time, that is, lays two and hatches them, and lays again, even to a second and third time, before the first have flown. They are white and unspotted. She makes a very slight nest of sticks, hay, and sometimes of her own cast-off feathers. She selects barns, old ruins, hollow trees, and crevices of rocks, overshadowed by ivy or creeping plants.

THE CROSS-BILL.

This bird lays four or five eggs of a white colour, tinged with pale blue, resembling the colour of skim-milk, and speckled with red, but only very sparingly. Her nest is made of twigs, grass, and sometimes lined with a few long hairs. She builds mostly among the branches of the Scotch fir, the nest being generally close to the boll or stem.

THE WOODLARK.

Unlike its congener, the Skylark, this bird is limited to certain localities in our islands. Whilst it is fairly abundant in some districts, it is seldom or never seen in others. It is highly esteemed as a song-bird, and consequently suffers at the hands of professional bird-catchers, especially as its young begin to carol at an early period of their existence. Its nest is situated on the ground, usually well concealed beneath a tuft of grass or low plant, and is composed of grass, bents, moss, and hairs, the coarser material used on the outside and the finer to line the interior. The eggs are four or five in number, of a lighter ground colour than the Skylark's eggs, thickly speckled with reddish-brown, the spots sometimes, but rarely, forming a zone at the larger end.

THE MERLIN.

Like some other of the Hawks, the Merlin does not take much trouble in the construction of her nest, simply selecting a little hollow, usually well hidden by heather, in moorland districts, lining it with dead ling and a little grass. The eggs number from three to six, according to some authorities; but I have usually found four on the North Riding moors, brown in colour, thickly covered with spots, blotches, and marblings of a reddish hue, especially at the larger end.

THE BITTERN.

The ground is chosen as the situation of this bird's nest, well hidden amongst the dense growth of reeds and flags, in close proximity to the water it haunts. It is composed of a plenteous supply of sticks, reeds, flag-leaves, &c. The eggs are found in numbers of from three to five, and have been described as of a pale clay-brown, stone colour, and olive-brown, all of which are as near the mark as a verbal description can come.

THE NIGHT-JAR.

This bird cannot really be said to make a nest of any kind, simply selecting some natural depression in the earth, beneath the shelter of a furze-bush or common bracken. She lays two eggs, which are grey, beautifully spotted, and marbled or veined with dark brown and tints of a bluish-lead colour, glossy. The female sits so closely, and harmonises so well with her surroundings, that, unless one happens to detect her beautiful large eye, the chances are very much against finding her nest.

THE STORM PETREL.

The Scilly Islands, St. Kilda, the Orkneys, Shetland, and the Irish coast, are the breeding haunts of the Storm Petrel. The nest is placed on the ground, amongst cliffs and under large-sized stones, being composed of pieces of dry earth and stalks of plants. One single white egg, about the size of a Blackbird's, is laid.

THE STONE-CHAT.