Kestrel Hawks are extremely lazy l)ii(ls wh(Mi judged from a domestic point of view. They adopt the old nests of Ravens, Carrion Crows,.Mag})ics, and Sparrow Hawks, soon foul them with their castings, and, wlieri their young ones are hatclied out, do not even ti()ul)]c to remove tlic shells from

which tlio tim' (h)\ii-('l;i(l ci-oaturcs havo struggled. The illustration on p. 1!)1 shows a Kestrel's eggs in a Raven's old nest which had been half top})led over by a heavy fall of snow the previous winter. Before laying her eggs, the adaptor had scratched the side of the structure out a little so as to create a hollow.

AVe have met with several Oyster- catchers'

OYSTER-CATCHER'S NEST

nests, consisting of hollows scratched in nice dry, strictly speaking,soft earth, and lined—or, more winkle and other small shellsjDaved—with empty picked up on the beach behjw, and in one case, in the South of Ireland, with one inlaid entirely with sun-dried rablnts' droppings.

Last spring my brother, whilst staying with a friend at his country house in Norfolk, was shown a li(jle in a hollow tree through which a pair of Jackdaws and innumerable Hone^ ]3ees were constantly travelling to and from their i-espective nests

in the utmost peace and liannony. The birds went down the trunk and the bees u}) it.

Birds of entirely different species sometimes share the same nest, and yet live and go about their business in perfect amity.

A few years ago I watched a })air of Rooks and a pair of House Sparrows, close to the Priory Eoad, Hornsey, feeding their young at the same time and at the same nest. The latter birds occupied the basement, having taken up their quarters amongst the sticks forming the foundation of the Rooks' nest. In 1895 a pair of Starlings made their home and successfully reared their young amongst the sticks forming the Ospreys' eyrie shown in oui- illustration.

The picture was obtained in the Highlands of Hcotlaiul during a scorching hot da' in the droughty sunnner of 189(3, and represents the nest and adult birds of one of the two or three pairs of Ospreys now said to breed in the British Isles.

Whilst my brother was preparing to make a study of the eyrie and its builders perched on the dead tree tops from an adjoining island, the female, as if afraid the hot sunshine would do some hai'in to her exposed v^^^^j:^, ])lunged headlong into the loch, and, rising, shook her dri])ping wings over them, after which she (piietly r(\sumed her favourite })erch. As a gratifNiug iiidictition of th(^ increasing-interest taken ill natural liistorN' by the peoi)le at large, hardly a week passes in the springtinn* without the newspapers recording a curious nesting- ])lace chosen 1»- some l)ir(l. Ivoltin Ivedbreasts naturall' come in for a hirge share of journalistic attention, and I am constantlx' having cuttings sent I stiuh' the subject.me ])} friends who know

A PAIR OF OSPREYS AND THEIR NEST.

196

WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA.

Indeed, the same paragraph will often come from different quarters at the same time.

We have ourselves met with a Robin's nest in an old coffee-pot tossed by some careless hand into a garden hedge, in an old watering-can lying upon its side on a rubbish heap, in the hub of a cart-wheel leaning against a wall, and amongst the woodwork beneath a tumbril standing in a shed, and give herewith a combination page of photographs of them as objects of curiosity. It is gratifying to be able to state that in each case the parent birds succeeded in rearing and carrying off their young ones in safety. Strangely enough, a Pied Wagtail had also built her nest in the framework of the tumbril above mentioned, on the same side as the Robin, but below the axletree. Both birds had taken advantage of an extra piece of timber which had been nailed on to strengthen the framework of the vehicle.

We have seen the nests of various members of the Tit family inside letter-boxes, street lamps, disused pumps, and even within the narrow limits afforded by the interior of the knife-box of a mowing machine.

A gentleman, who was going abroad big game shooting some years ago, like a prudent sportsman, tested the capabilities of his elephant gun and its explosive bullets on a brick garden wall prior to starting. The following spring a Spotted Flycatcher discovered that the penetrative force and destructive powers of one of the little projectiles had been sufficient to create an eligible site for a small bird's nest, and promptly built her own in the hole made by it.

The unwearying patience and devotion of birds whilst engaged in sitting upon their eggs or tending

'^. -

ROBINS' NESTS IN ODD SITUATIONS.

their young- has often struck me as being- really wonderful. I have passed some several times a day for days together, and found them sitting on every occasion in exactly the same positions. However, such is by no means always the case, as birds nesting' in fairly open situations frequently alter their fact due, no doubt, in many cases positions—a

FLYCATCHER'S NELT IN BULLET-HOLE.

to the sliifting of the wind, as they dislike to sit with their tails to it. The presence; of sitting game birtls may always be known l)y the increased size of their droppings ai'oiuid places whei'(; the' go to drink. I have known;i lied (jlrouse sit so long and closely on a clutch of addled eggs that she became almost too weak to fly. Some l)ii'ds may be caught on ihcir nests even when ill (piilo open siluations, and handled without being made to forsake. kast spring my brother and 1 met with a very curious case of a

SITTING CLOSE.

199

Chaffinch which did not object to being caught on her nest by a boy, yet would not allow us to photograph her. We tried morning, noon, and night in vain. I have known a bird of this species have every feather in her tail pulled out, whilst sitting on her eggs, by a mischievous lad who tried to catch her, and yet bring off her young.

Her nest was so insecurely affixed against the trunk of a huge tree that it began to topple over directly she commenced to sit, and would undoubtedly have fallen had not my brother fastened it up by driving a pin or two through its side into the bark of the tree.

I remember a case of a Tree Creeper being caught on her nest, situated behind a piece of loose bark hanging to the trunk of a lightning-struck elm, and conveyed half a mile in a man's jacket pocket in order that she might be shown to a little sick boy who took an intelligent interest in birds. Upon being returned, she resumed her duties towards her young as if nothing whatever had happened. We afterwards photographed one of her young ones as it left the nest and began to climb up the bark of the tree in which it had been bred.

TREE CREEPER.

200

WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA.

Bullfinches sit very closely, as may be judged from the vignette on the opposite page, which has been made direct from the original photograph. Gray Wagtails are also faithful birds in this respect. In the beginning of June, 1895, I found the nest of one of these birds in a little ghyll in Westmorland, and an illustration of it appeared in my work on “British Birds' Nests.” At the end of the same month of the present year we revisited the place, and found the old nest of 1895 still intact, one which had been used in 1896 a yard or two higher up the stream, and a new one, upon which the bird was then sitting, a few feet higher still. The nest was too far back in a dark horizontal fissure in the limestone rock to allow us to photograph the bird on it, so we put her off, and, drawing it a few inches out, went away. As she did not appear to resent our interference with her nest, we pulled it a bit further out still the next day, and on the third reflected sufficient light upon her by the aid of a looking-glass to enable the accompanying picture to be made. This done, we put it back in its original position, and the Wagtail ultimately hatched her eggs and reared five young ones.

Early in the morning of the day on which the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee we started out to photograph a Red-backed Shrike sitting on her nest. She was much shyer than we anticipated, but after a patient wait of four and a half hours we succeeded in making the study on p. 203 by hiding the camera and photographer, and signalling to the latter by a low whistle when the bird was seen, with a field-glass, to go to her nest. It is of interest to us from the fact that the photograph was taken just as her Majesty left Buckingham Palace on her historic procession.

GULLFINCH ON NEST

GRAY WAGTAIL ON NEST.

The nial(^ l)ir(ls of many species feed their mates whilst they are engag-ed in brooding, 1 remember hiding up one evening- with a Yorkshire gamekeeper in a small wood for a cock Sparrow-hawk which he said would be sure to come and feed the hen sitting on her nest close by. Wo located ourselves amongst some stunted birch trees in a place well above the nest, and connnanding a good view of nearly every winged a})proach to it, and waited. In a while a very curious looking object came sailing down the ghyll just above the h-QG tops; there was a loud bang, and it literally came apart, one half falling obliquely with a thud to the ground, and the other disap])earing, as if b}^ magic, round \\v shoulder of a small hill. I jncked u}) the i)ortion which Ave had seen fall, and it proved to be a young Peewit plucked almost bare, and still warm. The sound of the keeper's mi-successful shot put the hen off her nest. We waited until she returned, however, to receive what but.my companion considered a fatal wound, although badly hurt, the bird was actually sitting upon her nest next day, and when kilh^d the devoted creature had dried blood iiuining the full length of her tail and wing ([uills.

Cock Rol)ins feed the hens assiduously whilst they are sitting, and in return for their care receive a low twitter of thanks. ^[ost peo])le are aware of the fact that in nearly all clutches of House and Tree Sparrows' eggs one differs widely from the rest in regard to the character of its markings.

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