256 



also found a white-throat's nest in a similar position, but nearer, 

 if anything, to the cart track, though in this case tlie road was a 

 private road, and perhaps not quite so much used. 



The wren builds a nest which is hard to find, not so 

 much on account of its being liidden away in out-of-the-way 

 places, as from its exact resemblance to the substance on which it 

 builds. The nest is often placed in a hollow on a moss-grown 

 thorn stump, so exactly resembling the surroundings as to be 

 exceedingly difficult to find. It is also sometimes built in a hole 

 in a piece of old masonry, just like an accumulation of old dried 

 leaves, s\ich as one might have expected to lodge there. One was 

 found in a dead, bushy branch blown from a tree. Close to where 

 the branch had been liroken off another brancli had grown, which 

 had likewise been broken otf, forming a hook This, in its descent, 

 had hooked on to a branch a few feet from the ground, and 

 amongst the dried twigs thus suspended the nest was formed. It 

 could have been unhooked and carried away complete. 



Blue tits have been knoAvn to nest in all kinds of odd places* 

 usually, however, in holes in trees, sometimes in bottles, etc. One 

 built in an old disused pump. A few seasons ago two nested in 

 two different cast iron gate posts of an iron fence by the side of a 

 much-used carriage drive Each of the gate posts had a small, 

 square hole about three feet from the ground : here the birds 

 entered. The posts being hollow, the nests probably were placed 

 at the bottom. I believe they both carried off their young. 



Water hens and e\ en wild ducks have been known to nest 

 in trees. The sheldrake usually has its nest in a rabbit burrow or 

 other hole. One built some time ago in a cast iron pipe that 

 passed through a slag bank ; another built more than once in a 

 hole on the top of a straw stack ten feet high. The sedge 

 warbler's nest is usually placed not far from the ground, but I 

 have found one on the ground amongst tall grass. I have also 

 found one placed in a hedge three or four feet from the ground. 



The chaffincli is one of our most skilful builders of a nest. 

 It is formed outside of moss and lichens from the trunks of trees, 

 and lined with hair and feathers. It is about two and a half inches 

 internal diameter, and altogether a most lieautiful and compact 

 structure. I found one built on a birch sapling, so exactly 

 resembling the bark of the tree that it was impossible to detect it 

 at a few yards distance, and tlie reseml^lance to the white bark of 

 the tree was got in this instance with a liberal use of old newspaper 

 woven in with t he moss. 



* The aliove notes all refer to nests that have been found in the 

 Middlesbrough district. — T. A. L. 



