NIDIFICATION AND INCUBATION 337 



under my observation — though I daresay they have not 

 been nearly so many as some naturalists have pried into — 

 has been made of sea-weed, and of quite large pieces, too, 

 in particular a preference being shown for the long fronds 

 of the dark Tangle {Laminaria digitata). It will be observed 

 that the nests in the four photographs, all of which were 

 done on Ailsa Craig by Mr. Beetham from the same bird, 

 are made of sea-weed, probably L. digitata. Naumann says 

 they also make use of Fucus serratus, and Mr. William Evans 

 gives F. vesiculosus. I am not learned in sea-weeds, but think 

 that this list might be still further extended. Macgillivray 

 says they sometimes go sixty miles to get it,* but this can 

 hardly be because none is found nearer : the seaweed 

 gradually dries, adapting itself to the contour of the rock 

 upon which it rests, which gives it some adhesive properties, 

 and it is remarkable how seldom the nests are blown 

 away. 



At Ailsa Craig the stems and leaves of campions, both 

 SileneCucuhalus and S.maritima, are ready to hand, and these 



our commonost birds — the open nest of the Robin, and the domed nest 

 of the Wren, between the artless care of one bird which lays its egg on 

 the bare ground, and the wonderful structure of another which employs 

 two thousand feathers in the fabric of a cradle for its young. Systematists, 

 however, are slow in attaching any importance to characters deduced 

 from these things. 



♦"British Birds," V., p. 416. 



