5© C.C. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



The bird is a strong fighter, and it is as well that it is, for both 

 the crow and the jackdaw are very fond of sucking its eggs and 

 taking its 5'oung. I found a nest at the junction of three branches 

 of a lime tree in the middle of Cheltenham, and there were three 

 small but well marked eggs in it on April 12th. The name Missel 

 Thrush is given to the bird because it feeds largely on mistletoe 

 berries. 



THE ROBIN. 



The Robin is one of the tamest of our English wild birds. Its 

 favourite place for building is in a hollow under a shaded bank, 

 though it is often found nesting in old pots or water-cans. On April 

 nth I found my first robin's nest this year. It was built among 

 some ivy which was growing on a bank at Leckhampton, and was made 

 of dead leaves and moss and lined with roots and hair. There were 

 three eggs in it, fairly large and well marked. On May 13th I found 

 a robin had taken possession of a swallow's nest, having put in some 

 dead leaves and then a layer of moss, and finally laid three eggs 

 inside when I found it. 



THE CARRION CROW. 

 The Carrion Crow, a large bird, black in colour, is very like 

 the Rook, its chief point of difference is the want of the fleshy stuff 

 over the beak which a rook has. In outward appearance the nests 

 of the two birds are alike, but the lining of the two is very different. 

 The rook uses dry grass generally for a lining, but the crow uses a 

 a mixture of moss, sheep's wool, feathers and thin dry bark. The 

 crow does not live in colonies like the rook, but is found singly, I 

 have never found more than one crow's nest in one tree. Like a 

 rook it builds high up in a tree, but does not seem to make such a 

 point of building in the topmost branches, the lowest I have found 

 being about thirty feet from the ground. On April ist I found a 

 crow's nest in an oak tree, partly built. The outside was made of 

 sticks, then some mud had been put in, and the inside was being 

 lined with the substances mentioned above. I noticed that the bird 

 began lining the nest at the top round the rim and worked 

 downwards. On April 12th there was one egg in the nest. 



THE WREN. 

 The Wren is one of our smallest English birds. The jenny- 

 wren is one of the largest of its family, very hardy and very tame. 

 Its nest is usually built in crevices in trees and sometimes on banks. 



