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LONG-TAILED TITS 



'PROCREANT CRADLES' 



In spite of the great skill and precision which many birds 

 show in nest-building, none of them has any natural tool 

 specially framed for this purpose. Their bills are their chief 

 instruments in shaping their nests, and these are developed 

 exclusively for seeking food in the bird's own way. Nest- 

 building is a by-product of the bird's activity, and seems in 

 many of the highest instances to be an expression of over- 

 flowing vitality, and an indulgence of the sense of order and 

 beauty, rather than a habit shaped by a direct practical 

 advantage. The rough and clumsy nests of the wood-pigeon 

 and turtle-dove nurse as large a proportion of young to 

 maturity as the carefully plastered nests of the song-thrush 

 and the wren's feathery globes. The tits with their soft 

 nests built in sheltered crevices are rather notable for pro- 

 ducing addled eggs ; and the slight benty structures of the 

 blackcap and whitethroat, though they allow many eggs to 

 perish in wet seasons, are none the less woven with extreme 

 delicacy and skill, and take a high place in the scale of 

 workmanship. 



The best nests are not always built by the birds with the 

 most suitable bills. The fine curved beak of the tree-creeper 

 would seem to be a far more suitable instrument for weaving 



