SIDE IvIGHTS ON BIRDS 



The eggs vary in colour from the blue-grey 

 closely speckled type of the blackbird, to those 

 of clearer ground colour with larger red markings, 

 which remind one of the mistle thrush. In one 

 instance we find an egg destitute of all markings ; 

 the ground colour a pale blue, resembling a 

 starling's. The colonies are easily discovered, for 

 as one approaches some thin belt of trees, the 

 familiar " clack-clack" is heard on every hand, 

 as the birds fly restlessly from branch to branch. 

 Now, as one draws near the first prominent nest 

 in the fork of a silver birch, others, equally pro- 

 minent, spring into view, looming large through 

 the thin veil of the leaves. The whole com- 

 munity is now in a state of excitement, and the 

 owners of the nest we are examining make re- 

 peated onslaughts on the intruder, descending 

 suddenly from a height after the manner of tern 

 or skua, and sometimes barely missing one's 

 head. 



In other parts of the country we have usually 

 found a minority of redwings in the colony, but 

 here we meet with one example only. 

 t' In Norway one frequently sees a small cloud 

 of fieldfares mobbing the hooded crow, and it is 

 by no means uncommon to mark the arch 

 marauder as he bears a fledgling away in his bill. 



From this little balcony in the Stryn Valley, 

 one is constantly attracted by some incident in 

 bird-life. Now a spotted flycatcher alights on 

 the rail, a bare hand's width away. Its de- 

 meanour plainly indicates a nest, but we look in 

 vain for ivy or creeper which might form a suitable 

 cover. Yet here the nest is — a small mossy cup — 

 built without any attempt at hiding, in the spout 

 which edges the roof of a lower building a few feet 

 away. When the rain comes the nest must, of 

 necessity, be inundated, but considerations of 



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