1 82 Wild Birds and their Haunts 



UNORTHODOX NESTING. 



WHAT possessed the blackbirds which built their 

 nest above the cylinder of a Westinghouse brake 

 of a meat van ? A naturalist states that the 

 blackbird is not, as a rule, unorthodox in the selection of 

 its nesting place, but many birds there are which select 

 all kinds of strange abodes in which to transact their 

 family affairs. The robin chooses all sorts of queer 

 spots — tool baskets, farm waggons, old watering cans 

 are often made use of — and the birds are almost always 

 unmolested by the owners of the borrowed articles. A 

 duckwing hen has been known to lay in a starch box, 

 placed on the kitchen dresser, while the owner's family 

 were at dinner. A second hen favoured a nest among 

 the pots and pans on a scullery shelf. 



