172 BIEDs' NESTS. 



eggs unspeckled, and using a great mass of loose grassy materials. 



The most curious nest, I suppose, of which we have any knowledge, is 

 that of the Kingfisher, or Halcyon; this is placed in a hole of the river 

 bank, and formed of a kind of gelatine of a very hard substance. It is 

 not known to a certainty how this is formed; the most probable conjecture 

 is that these birds, like Hawks and Owls, cast up the bones of fish which 

 they have swallowed entire. These ejected masses must necessarily be 

 impregnated with saliva, which forming a cement when dry, they thus 

 erect their nests, for we may strictly speak of it as a structure, being 

 thus composed chiefly (supposing the supposition correct) of carbonate of 

 lime, which the bones of fishes contain more of than those of any of these 

 creatures. Whilst the Kingfisher sits the weather is usually lovely, which 

 has given rise to the term "Halcyon days;" and his nest bears nearest analogy 

 to the Esculent Swallows' before mentioned, whose nests are like a half 

 cup cemented to the sides of caverns on the sea-shore, and sold as a delicacy 

 for the table by the Chinese and Japanese. 



There are a race of birds of which the Ostrich is the first, and finding 

 an example in our Bustards and Stone Curlew, which make no nest what- 

 ever, depositing their eggs upon the bare earth. The Nightjar does the 

 same, and the Peewit cannot strictly be said to make any nest. The eggs 

 of all these being placed in such exposed situations, are of a colour so 

 much resembling the ground on which they lie, that they are frequently 

 trodden on before being discovered. The Ostrich's are, however, buff-colour, 

 but these are usually found on the sands of the desert, and hatched by 

 their heat alone. 



There is one nest of our own songsters that I must not omit; it is that 

 of the Reed Wren, (Motacilla salicaria;) this is built generally over the 

 water at a small height, and supported by and entwined around three or 

 more reed stems or bulrushes by means of cobwebs, formed of grasses, 

 and rather deep; thus being quite secure from noxious animals or almost 

 any creature from which it could fear molestation. There has been some 

 confusion among naturalists about this bird's nest, some stating as above, 

 and others that it builds in the same manner in low hedges and trees 

 near the water; now indeed they are both right and yet wrong, for this 

 bird builds only on the water amongst reeds, as I have described it; but 

 there is a nest almost exactly similar to it, built in the other situations 

 mentioned, but this is the nest of the Reed Bunting, a bird often confounded 

 with the above species, but quite distinct, having a black head and reddish 

 brown plumage; whilst the colour of the other is cinereous brown, with a 

 milk-white streak over the eye. Mr. Sweet took this view of the subject, 

 and he was a very observant naturalist, and one whose opinion may safely 

 be depended upon. 



