56 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



her home, and fine dead grass was, in consequence, 

 used as a substitute. The illustration on p. 54 

 represents one of the nests in question. 



A whole volume might be written upon the 

 subject of birds' nests in odd situations. Robins 

 are notorious for their vagaries in this respect, 

 but individuals of species far less associated with 

 man and his doings often make wide and ap- 

 parently needless departures from the unwritten 

 rules of their family. I have during the last 

 thirty years found scores of ring ouzels' nests in 

 braes, banks, holes in old stone walls, tumble- 

 down buildings, and amongst rocks, and never 

 regarded the species as one productive of varia- 

 tions until quite recently, when I met with a 

 nest in a rush-grown moss bog where nothing 

 but a wild duck or snipe might have been ex- 

 pected. A strange thing about this case was 

 that it was one of deliberate preference rather 

 than necessity, because plenty of ideal situations 

 were in existence within one hundred yards of 

 the site chosen. 



Having just read an American book in which 

 the writer detailed his experiences on the subject 

 of shifting birds' nests containing young from 

 dark corners to light, open spaces, in order that 

 he might photograph the restless parent birds 

 attending to their domestic duties, I set to work 

 and built a rough stone wall immediately behind 



