44 WILD I.1I-I-: IN CHINA. 



solid support below. And this is the reason \vii\' the oriole 

 may be seen diligenth- searcliinjf amongst the trees for fibrous 

 matter which will bear the sti'ain. Once found, its strenj^th 

 is tested fibre bj- fibre, for none is picked off the ground 

 apparently, but is tugged oft' from the bark of such trees as 

 the Chinese plane. I have watched a pair busy at this work, 

 and coming back again and again to a spot where evidently 

 they had discoxered exactly what they required. Hard work 

 it was, too. With this fibrous material the pendent nest is 

 formed. The oriole is a sort of cousin, more than once re- 

 moved, of the thrush and blackbird, and being of about the 

 same size makes a nest of roughly the same capacity. The 

 shape too is the same, but its pendent condition and fibrous 

 nature make a wide difference. 



A few birds nest in the earth. Here and there a member 

 of the duck family will deposit her eggs in the burrow of a 

 rabbit or some such animal. The burrowing owls of America 

 share their burrows with rattlesnakes: the sand-martin scoops 

 out for itself a hole in the perpendicular side of a sandy 

 bank, but we have none of these in our immediate neigh- 

 bourhood. The ordinary kingfishers are our most common 

 ground-nesting birds, with perhaps one or two other species 

 which visit us in the breeding season. These make use of a 

 hole in the bank of a creek or brook, and droppings sometimes 

 tell of its whereabouts, which might not otherwise be discover- 

 ed. In the very complete collection of nests at South Ken- 

 sington there is about a cubic yard of solid earth taken from 

 the ground and placed in a glass case. On one side is the 

 entrance to a kingfisher's nest, and on the other side the 

 extreme back of the hole is seen showing the nest itself. 



Just now, fledged nestlings are to be frequently met 

 with in the country. Young magpies, rooks, blackbirds, and 

 others are being given their final lessons in self-support. 

 One trait they have which is very human. They know better 

 than their parents. Three or four times lately a brood of 

 young blackbirds have allowed me to come within easy 

 killing distance had I been murderously inclined, and that 

 notwithstanding all that their mother and father were saying. 

 These were flying round in a great state of excitement. " Fly, 

 Ohflj'," they were screaming, "here's one of the ogres that will 

 eat you up. Fly, Ohfly! you'll bekilled! Fly, Oh fly !!" And then, 

 as the youngsters refused to budge, though they were quite 

 capable of flying well enough, the old birds would do their 

 utmost to attract attention from their self-willed offspring, 

 who, judging from their actions were evidently saying to 

 themselves, "There they are again, those fooUsh parents 

 of ours. 'Why will they keep on doing these things? No 

 harm has ever come to us yet and we don't believe it ever 



