98 KEATHEUED RESIDENTS IN THE GROUNDS OF TERRICK HOUSE. 



favourite roosting-place, I may mention that a few years ago, a large flock 

 suddenly took a fancy to a clump of evergreens immediately in front of, and 

 close to, the entrance hall of Wotton House, the seat of the Marquis of 

 Chandos. All attempts to scare them away on the first evening of their 

 appearance proving ineffectual, a "council of war" was the next morning 

 called, the result of which was that the gamekeepers and male domestics 

 were "put under arms," and stationed in the evening around the carriage 

 swee{), in the centre of which the clump of evergreens aforesaid was situated. 

 On the re-appearance of the birds in the evening, volley after volley was fired 

 into their ranks; still they persisted in their attempts to occupy the position 

 they had pitched upon, which the survivors succeeded in doing, darkness at 

 length putting an end to further hostilities for that night. The next evening 

 the "action" was resumed, and continued till darkness again intervened; and 

 it was not till this slaughter had been continued for several successive evenings 

 and their ranks had in consequence become fearfully thinned, that they were 

 finally driven from their "position," and compelled to look out for "quarters" 

 elsewhere. 



If the reader will now accompany me in an imaginary birds'-nesting expe- 

 dition round the grounds, I will further point out to him the nests we shall 

 be likely to meet with on the way, supposing the breeding season to be just 

 at its height. Let us then first pay a visit to yonder summer-house partly 

 clothed with ivy; its somewhat dilapidated condition outside impresses us 

 rather favourably than otherwise with the probability of its richness in the 

 production of oological treasures; nor shall we be disappointed in our expectations, 

 unless a change should have taken place since the last summer I visited it. 

 As we approach the entrance, and are about to pass into the interior, a 

 bird of sober and unpretending colours darts silently away from our very 

 elbow; our eyes follow her in her flight, which is but a brief one, for the 

 next instant she i% sitting on the nearest convenient post, or rail, or naked 

 branch, where she has an uninterrupted view of us, and we of her; there 

 she remains, and though unable wholly to suppress her anxiety, awaits with 

 exemplary patience the issue of our visit. Our eyes now turn to the place 

 from whence she darted off, and on the horizontal branch of some trained or 

 climbing plant, we perceive a nest something like that of the Chaffinch, but 

 less firm, compact, and beautiful; externally it is composed of tree moss and 

 lichens, intermixed with wool and a large proportion of spiders' webs; internally 

 it is lined with hair or feathers, or both. The nest is found to be placed 

 close to the wall, so close indeed that the wall forms one side of it, or rather 

 its being so placed enables the bird to dispense with the trouble of building 

 a circular nest, it forming when detatched only half, or at most three-fourths 

 of a circle, and has very much the appearance of a nest cut in two; thus 

 the bird effects a saving of time, trouble, and materials. In it we find four 

 or five eggs which, from their peculiarity in colour and markings, we should 

 feel no hesitation in pronouncing to be those of the Spotted Flycatcher, 



