THEIR REPRODUCTION (NESTS) 253 



are another family of fairly uniform nest- 

 building habits, usually placing their substantial 

 cradles (made of dry grass, bents, roots, and 

 moss, lined with wool, hair, and feathers) in 

 well-sheltered spots — holes in walls or under 

 stones and turfs ; the Pipits place their nests, 

 not so. elaborate as the Wagtails, amongst her- 

 bage in the open, although one or two species 

 love to hide them under stones and rocks. In 

 the Thrush family (Turdidae) we again meet 

 with considerable diversity of nest. All the 

 Thrushes, of which our Song Thrush may be 

 taken as typical, and all the Ouzels, of which 

 the Blackbird is an excellent example, build 

 open cup-shaped nests of grass, moss, leaves, 

 and twigs, cemented with mud (and in some 

 cases lined with decayed wood), and finally 

 lined with dry grass ; placing them in bushes, 

 trees, or on the ground in banks, amongst ivy, 

 and so forth. The Rock Thrushes and Wheat- 

 ears make nests of dry grass lined with hair 

 and feathers in the latter group, and cunningly 

 conceal them in holes of rocks, or under 

 stones, and in burrows. The Redstarts use 

 similar materials, hiding their nests in holes of 

 trees and rocks and walls. The Stonechats 

 and Whinchats make nests of dry grass, hair, 



