THE BUILDERS 



53 



the difference corresponds to the nature of the site chosen. 

 The greenfinch does not show the same taste for snug 

 shelter as the linnet, but builds higher in the windy shrubs 

 and hedgerows ; and it has the wisdom to wait till they 

 become more habitable with advancing spring. 



At the beginning of April the outlines of the earliest 

 magpies' nests grow larger and denser, and others begin to 

 appear in the naked tree-tops against the sky. It is easy to 

 tell a new magpie's nest from an old one, even if it is 

 unfinished and rather shapeless, by its light structure of fresh 



unbattered stems. Rooks and jackdaws often tear off live 

 branches for weaving into their nests ; but magpies with 

 their less powerful beaks and frames do not seem to attempt 

 this. Their thorniest and most formidable nests are built 

 of clippings from a quickset hedge ; with an abundance of 

 straight, pliant shoots thickly set with spines, they weave a 

 nest as prickly as a folded hedgehog. Their nests are 

 shaped like wrens' nests, but with the roof lightly built of 

 sticks, and the lower part a cup firmly compacted of clay. 

 Most carrion crows begin to build in early April; but in 

 London and its suburbs the effect of easy living displays 

 itself as in the case of wood-pigeons and sparrows. In 

 parks and suburban fields the crow is often seen building in 



