54 The Scottish Naturalist. 



the number of eggs usually laid, not necessarily, and indeed sel- 

 dom, taken from that particular nest. 



On the second shelf, such nests as consist of little more than 

 a few reeds or grasses or a mere hollow scraped in earth were 

 contained in round card-board boxes to hold the materials to- 

 gether. These included the nests of the curlew, sandpiper, gulls, 

 coot, water-hen, ducks, grebes, &c. Smaller boxes held the 

 collection of bones on which the kingfisher lays its eggs, the 

 few grasses that the skylark lines a hole in the soil with, and 

 so on. 



Upper shelves held the smaller nests ; and when they had 

 been built in holes of trees we cut away the branch, where pos- 

 sible. In time we had not only a very complete collection, but 

 an additional case of such eggs as vary from a common type, 

 and our little museum was the favourite resort of all the school- 

 boys in the district ; and it is certain that much less bird-nest- 

 ing for mere nesting's sake was one outcome of our efforts. 

 Sometimes we had brought us varieties which were not found in 

 our cases, — a result which was most desirable and pleasing, as it 

 evidenced an intelligent appreciation of the uses of a collection. 

 A schoolmaster who will but inaugurate such a collection, will 

 certainly be conferring a lasting benefit on his pupils, and sparing 

 many a nest from careless destruction. Certain it is, too, that if 

 every country town and village had its small, well-ordered, local 

 museum, where the common objects of animal and plant life, 

 which ever will possess an absorbing interest for the young, were 

 displayed in such a manner as to convey some intelligent ideas 

 of their life-history, and relation to each other, among the innu- 

 merable benefits which would accrue, one of not the least would 

 be that there would be created a sympathy between the animals 

 and their keen-eyed observers, and the wanton destruction of 

 myriads of them would be diminished. 



One of the most pleasant recollections of a short residence in 

 a French country town is associated with its admirable museum, 

 and the character of its visitors on Sunday afternoons. On 

 week-days the students from an ecole de medecine shared with me 

 the examination of its well-arranged cases ; but on Su\iday after- 

 noons troops of peasants and their families took the place of the 

 systematic student, — the husband in his clean blouse, the wife in 

 clean starched cap of marvellous and stupendous proportions, 

 and the children in clean Sunday best. The shouts of the 

 youngsters at the wonders of strange foreign bctcs were only sur- 



