50 Our Bird Friends. 



legists fear that unless something is done to protect 

 its c^'Q's, Avhich are hioiilv valued bv collectors, it 

 Avill become extinct at no distant date so far as the 

 British Islands are concerned. 



I have seen a Raven's nest made almost entirely 

 of the wooden hoops belonging to barrels that had 

 been washed ashore by the Atlantic waves and broken 

 up on the beach of an island in the Shetlands. 



Some strano-e things have been found in birds' 

 nests from time to time. A soldier's jacket and an 

 arrow, amongst other articles, were once discovered 

 in that of a Gannet at St. Kikla. 



I liave seen Shags' nests adorned with freshly- 

 gathered wild flowers, and Sandwich Terns' eggs 

 Ivino' on a beautiful collection of tinv blue nmssel 

 shells, which appeared to have been gathered for 

 purely decorative purposes. 



Although birds have no scaffolding to give wa}^ 

 or iron girders to collapse and injure them, they yet 

 sufi:er from fatal accidents whilst building their tiny 

 homes. Town Sparrows are sometimes hanged by 

 becoming entangled in bits of string they pick up 

 from the streets to buikl their nests with behind sign- 

 boards and rain-pipes. Chaffinches are occasionally 

 strans'led bv o'ettinq- the horsehairs with which thev 

 line their charming little homes twisted about their 

 necks. House Martins and Skylarks have both 

 been found hanged by their own efforts to escape 

 from the entanglement of straws in or near their 

 nests, and instances of nushaps of this character 



