SIDE LIGHTS ON BIRDS 



place. The mallard's eggs are frequently found 

 in pollard willows, at a considerable elevation 

 from the ground, and a photograph by Mr. 

 Riley Fortune in Nelson's " Birds of Yorkshire " 

 shows a dipper's nest perched high upon a bough, 

 overhanging a stream. It is by no means un- 

 common to find the waterhen's nest in fairly 

 high bushes, and the bird herself may sometimes 

 be seen resting, awkwardly enough, it must be 

 confessed, on some of the upper branches. 



In the case of the true sea-fowl few indeed can, 

 by any stretch of reasoning, be regarded as tree- 

 lovers. Milton writes how 



' ' Upon a tree. 

 The middle tree, and highest there that grew," 



sat Satan disguised as a cormorant, and the 

 cormorants certainly are a race which take readily 

 to perching and on occasion, as in the case of a 

 colony on a fresh-water lake in Ireland, described 

 by Mr. Jourdain, to nesting in trees. We have 

 it on record that a cormorant was not long ago 

 seen perched on the cross of a church steeple in 

 the centre of England. A pair of gannets, too, 

 upset certain seemingly well-established theories 

 by alighting on the North British Hotel in Edin- 

 burgh, but this is rather beside the question. 



The fact remains, however, that for the host of 

 ocean dwellers — gulls, terns, guillemots and auks 

 — the tree may be said to have little or no at- 

 traction. Still many gulls, the kittiwake es- 

 pecially, alight readily on houses, sheds, railings 

 and upright posts, so it is probable that their 

 natural habit is being modified by environment. 



In the matter of short-eared owls discussions 

 have from time to time arisen as to whether these 

 birds are ever known to rest upon trees. Certain 

 dogmatists have afiirmed that they are not. 

 Further observation has shown, however, that 



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