52 Our Bird Friends. 



sticks standing in the corner of a kitchen garden. 

 It was twice the height of an ordinary specimen, 

 and, as the brood of young ones that had been 

 reared in it had flown, I took it carefully to pieces 

 and discovered that the lower half consisted of 

 what had no doubt been an earlier effort containing 

 a clutch of addled eofors. 



In the spring of last year a Song Thrush built 

 a very pretty little nest on the gnarled roots of a 

 tree growing on a high bank near my home. She 

 was soon robbed by a mischievous boy, and the 

 empty nest remained all the following summer, 

 autumn, and winter in an excellent state of preser- 

 vation because the overhanoinsf bank shielded it 

 i'rom rain, snow, and falling leaves. At the end ot 

 March of this year a young Thrush commenced to 

 lay in it. I feel sure she Avas not the original owner, 

 because the eggs of the second clutch were smaller 

 than those of the first, and small eggs are generally 

 laid by vouno- birds the first breedins^ season. 



Before passing on to describe different types of 

 nests and their uses, I must not forget to mention 

 the names of a few prudent birds that build extra 

 nests for different purposes. 



The Common Skua, or Bonxie, often constructs 

 a spare nest near to the one occupied by its pair 

 of eggs, and when the latter is swamped by a heavy 

 rainstorm, has been known to remove her possessions 

 to her higher and drier home. 



The Great Crested Grebe and the Waterhen both 



