58 



Pictures of Bird Life 



Garden-warbler (Sy/i'ia horhvisis). 



type of a\'iaii development. 'i'lie family of Thrushes now 

 heads the list of birds, licc Eagles deposed. Art has 

 triumplied over strength. 



Tlie nest is so well known as to be familiar to everybody : 

 and in tlie earlier montlis of tlie year — for no ])ird ])egins to 

 nest earlier than tlie Thrush — it is frequently made as though 

 the bird rather coiu'ted ()])serA'ation than desired to coneeal 

 it ; and the lovely blue eggs spotted with black are ruthlessly 

 taken by the first boy who jiasses that way — too often only 

 to be smashed at once, out of sheer mischief and Ioac of 

 destruction. Only a Aery small proportion, of the first clutches 

 of eggs can ever be hatclied ; l)ut luckily the birds have 

 several broods, and the later nests, made after the hedges 

 are in full leaf, have a better chance of being unobser\ed. 



