CHAPTER V.

NESTS, EGGS, AND YOUNG.

MANY people imagine that birds build their nests exactly alike, according to an undeviating pattern rigidly fixed for the instinctive guidance of each species; but such is certainly not the case, although it is truly wonderful how closely the different members of a species adhere to a general type of architecture.

The fact is, I believe, that birds, like human beings, possess individually varying degrees of intelligence, skill, and energy, and that differences in any of these qualities are to the close observer plainly marked in the constructive character of their work. Chaffinches, as a rule, build exceedingly neat, cup-shaped nests, as everybody knows, but not infrequently quite a slovenly structure, for the species, may be met with. Sometimes they are composed of green moss and lined with horse-hair only, at others the outside is liberally studded with bits of lichen and curtained with cobwebs, and the inside lined with horse-hair, cow-hair, rabbits' down, and feathers. It is said that bits of lichen are used on the outer walls of the nest to give it a general resemblance to the bark of the branches surrounding it, and although I must admit that in many cases the idea of harmonisation appears to underlie the ornamentation, it is certainly not

always the case, as some }'cars ag-o I mot with one the bulkier of which had thickly studded its outer walls with l)its of an old iiewspa})er, in such a situation that the journalistic decorations really increased rather than lessened its chances of discovery.

That individuals of a certain species begin to nest almost simultaneously in a given district I proved last spring, by finding thirteen Chaffinches' nests in various stages of construction on the 24th and 2oth of April. On the other hand, some early pairs of Starlings had voung ones hatched out before the last few dozen mend3ers of their winter flocks had fairly broken up.

Odd as it may seem at first sight, birds occasionally lose their lives by remarkable accidents which ha})pen to them whilst engaged in the building of their nests. During a ramble one evening-last spring, I came upon a female Chaffinch sus-j)ended by a strong horse hair within two or three feet of her almost completed nest. A hard baked worm-casting had cemented itself to one end of the hair, which had in consequence become twisted round a twig, and the opposite end so entangled about the unfortunate bird's neck as to form a ruiniing noose, and strangle it by its own efforts to escape. It was a most i)athetic picture, and as my brother made a ])]iot()gTa])h of it, the poor l)ird's mate ke})t on calling for her and flying round in the most evident distress.

A Common Wren will build the outside of its nest of old hay straws Avlien placing it in tlu; side of a as sliowii in our illustration on j)age 187, whichrick-my brother was lucky enough to secure just as the owner was about to enter— of green moss when situated in a imossn' bank, and of dead leaves when

HEN CHAFFINCH HANGED BY A HAIR.

in a liedgerovv, bramble biisli, or amongst a few slender twigs sprouting from the trunk of a tree where a branch has been lopped off. I have met with several in the last two positions in woods, and I must admit that they very nearly escaped minute examination on account of their close resemblance to an accidental collection of leav^es. These facts would, on the face of them, appear to prove that the bird in each case deliberately chose the materials for the outer walls of its nest in order that they should liarmonise with their surroundings and materially lessen the chances of detection—an end which is undoubtedly attained, but whether by accident or design it is difficult to say. I am inclined to think the former, because I believe that birds, as a rule, build their nests with such suitable materials as lie handiest, although I remember an instance of a Wren flying over a quarter of a mile for the feathers with which she lined her little house. I was able to prove this, because those used were all off a particularly light-coloured hen Grouse, the skeleton and remaining feathers of which I shortly afterwards found.

Wrens build what are popularly known as "cock's nests," which are in every way equal to those in which eggs are laid and young ones reared, except for the fact that they do not contain a, lining of feathers. These nests, I should say from my own experience, num1)er ([uite three to one of those made for breeding purposes. Some ornithologists are of opinion that they are made to sleep in, but although 1 have nu't with members of the Tit family comfortably tucked away in tluMu at night-time, I have never come across one occupied by a member of the species which built it.

Water-hens generally build two or three spare

WREN GOING INTO HER NEST IN RICK.

iiosts, of slighter construction than the one they actually occupy, round a pond, and Plovers often scratch out and prepare little hollows in which they never lay their eggs. Some Sand Martins lay their eggs upon quite an elaborate bed of straws and feathers, whilst others in the same bank deposit theirs \)im the scantiest lining of straws only. Individual nests belonging to birds of the same species vary consideraljlv in point of size without any reference whatever to the character of the situation occupied, as the most casual glance at a number of House Martins' nests will prove. In regard to hiding their nests, individual birds differ greatly. Last spring my brother and I found a Blackbird's in a hedge merely by the fact that the bird in building it had carelessly left a conspicuous trail of the materials she had used from the outside of the bush right up to the very nest. A schoolboy would have detected it through this slovenly piece of workmanship quite thirty yards away, as was doubtless the case, for the eggs did not remain long in it. On the other hand, within a hundred yards of it, I found the most cunningly-hidden Blackbird's nest that I have ever seen. I was looking round a friend's garden, when I came upon an old black horse's tail which had Ijcen thrown into a yew tree and lodged near the trunk, and about five feet fnmi the ground. The thing looked curious, and, with an idea of examining it more closely, I seized the lower end and gave it a tug. To my surprise, a hen l)la('k-bird fluttered out in great alarm, and 1 discovered that she had a nest and eggs on a branch close to the bole of llie tree and quite behind the horse's tail, which, whilst foi-iuing a kind of curtain (it

was somewhat spread out) tliroug-li which she could see, hid her and lier nest most effectually from view. I fear that, from an ethical point of view, the actions of many birds during the breeding season would not present a very edifying spectacle. I have seen a stable with upwards of forty Martins' nests under its eaves, half of which were occupied by Sjoarrows. Many of them were, of course, old ones, which had been confiscated between the departure and return of their rightful owners, but others had been forcibly occupied directly they were built. Indeed, I have witnessed a pair of Sparrows steal a Martin's nest before the outer wall of mud had actually been completed. If they happen to hnd eggs in a nest they have decided to raid they eject them, and I strongly suspect the young too, from the unfeathered little creatures I have found dead upon the ground directly beneath their nests. That Sparrows will also endeavour to steal each other's nests we have satisfactorily proved. Last spring my brother fixed a small box up against a brick wall just outside his bedroom window, in order that, with his camera hidden behind the curtains, he might make some photographic studies of the old birds feeding their young. During May a pair of birds took possession of the quarters prepared for their accommodation, and in due time a cosy nest containing five speckled eggs was the result. All went well until another pair of birds of the same species cast envious eyes upon the little wooden box with a neat round hole in front. One morning a fierce battle was the result, and when it was over, and the prodigious din had subsided, two broken eggs lay upon the window sill, a third on the garden

path, and of the two remaining in the nest, which was sadly torn about and dishevelled, one had a great hole pierced in its side.

Sparrows, in their turn, suffer from the dishonesty of Starlings, by which the}' are sometimes roljl)ed of cosy holes they have taken much pains to make in the sides of hayricks. I once saw a Starling eject a pair of Sparrow^s from their nest in one of the divisions of a barrel-shaped pigeon-cote erected on the \o) of a )q\q. It was quite comical to see the usurper stand defiantly in the doorway of the house she had taken possession of, whilst the rightful owners talked loudly at a safe distance from her beak, or tiuttered round without getting help or heed from a dozen neighbours sharing the same cote. When the Starling Hew^ out, the ejected tenants hotly pursued her in a make-believe attempt at administering some wholesome chastisement, but she took not the slightest notice of their threats, and returned again unconcernedly at her leisure.

A pair of Starlings took possession of a Sparrow's nest built in a rose tree trained against the wall of a farndiouse near Shenley, in Hertfordshire, last spring, and reared their young in it.

A year or two ago, whilst my brother was trying to photograph a Song Thrush in th(^ act of feeding her young in ][ull, he was astonished to see a Wren hoj) up and l)oldh' })ull a ])iece of nu)ss out of the side of the Thrush's nest and fiy off with it. 1 have watched Jvooks steal sticks from each other's nests on several occasions, and once saw one endeavour to pilfer twigs from a Heron's nest close by her ow^n, and receive a measure of well-deserved punishment for her dishonesty from the infuriated owner.

KESTREL'S EGGS IN A RAVENS OLD NEST

I!t2 U-JTIl XATCliE AND A CJMEIU.

Whilst some birds are guilty of tlioft, others occasionally exhibit quite extravag-ant haljits in regard to the materials with which they are building their nests'; and I have often located the precise position of a Swallow's nest amongst the rafters of a high barn by a collection of feathers dropped, I have no doubt accidentally, to the floor. Ring- Ouzels, l^lackbirds, and Song Thrushes occasionally drop quite a quantity of nuiterials to the ground beneath their nests, but do not appear to troul^le about picking them up again. In the course of my ornithological experiences I have known one or two cases of birds trying to build in impossible situations, and having their best efforts defied by the materials toppling over as soon as piled a certain height. I remember a place close beside a waterfall in a little Yorkshire ghyll where a Blackbird or Song Thrush attempts in vain nearly every year to build on an ideal but, unfortunately, all too narrow ledge of rock. Occasicjnally a bird will build a new nest on the top of an old one belonging to the same species, and I have known this done even when the old one contained addled eggs. I once saw an old Thrush's nest which had been lined with fine grass and utilised ])y a none too industrious ]5lackljird. nests IjclongingWe have met with several disused to the two last-named birds occupied by Harvest Mice, which had filled up the hollows in each with their own pretty little balls of grass.