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Pictures of Bird Life 



They nest in some of tlie houses in the London Road. One 

 in particuhir, whose gable-end faces the street in a narrow 

 |)[irt. seems to aeeonnnodate se^'eral pairs on the end of the 

 beams which support tlie gable. The eggs are two, some- 

 times three in number, and are deposited among a few" 

 straws, cemented together by the viscid saliAa of the birds. 

 The country here is not generally fa\'ourable to the habits 



Young Kingfisher {Alcedo ispida) sitting on Water-hen's Nest. 



of the Xightjar ; but wherever bracken is found at the edges 

 of some of the woods a few pairs may be foimd nesting — or 

 rather laying, for nest-making troubles them not. 



The two eggs, curiously resembling round pieces of chalk 

 or mottled pebbles, are simply deposited on the bare ground. 

 In such places, amid dead lea^'es and sticks and loose stones, 

 they are not easily seen ; and the bird herself, while incubating, 

 is absolutely in\isil)le to tlie keenest eyes, unless they knew 



