DAW. 307 



this, and asks why they should use sticks at all in a hole 

 which is already fit to support every kind of material proper 

 for a nest ? There is much point in this question, for few 

 birds that ordinarily build in holes are at the pains of carry- 

 ing thither the rough stuft' that forms the foundation or out- 

 works of the nest, so necessary where the structure rests on 

 the boughs of trees, but so useless when a firm base already 

 exists. But this is not all, for in conveying these sticks* 

 to their destination Daws shew a singular lack of inge- 

 nuity. They may carefully balance each stick in the beak for 

 convenient transport to the hole, but the stick is held by 

 the middle and carried crossways, so that arrived at the en- 

 trance its length and rigidity often hinder its introduction, 

 for they do not perceive that to effect this it should be turned 

 endways, and they may be seen for a quarter of an hour 

 vainly attempting an impossibility until the stick slips from 

 their grasp, and another is fetched probably to be let go in 

 like manner. Yet all Daws are not equally stupid, and 

 Wolley observed (Zool. p. 1774) that in a large settlement at 

 Bearwood the nests were curiously adapted to circumstances, 

 some consisting only of a little wool, while others had a 

 monstrous pile of sticks to stop any inconvenient cavity of the 

 tree.f The quantity amassed is indeed occasionally wonder- 



* The collecting of these sticks is, as may be imagined, a toilsome task, and 

 the birds are not slow to avail themselves of any they can get, as gardeners often 

 find to their cost, for the pegs used to mark their plants are frequently carried 

 oft" by Daws. Denson has recounted (Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 1, vi. p. 397) how, 

 from 1815 to 1818, the old Botanic Garden at Cambridge, situated in the 

 middle of the town and now the site of the Museums and Lecture Rooms, was 

 thus regularly robbed of its labels, which were subsequently found in the towers 

 and chimneys of the neighbouring buildings— eighteen dozens being taken out of 

 a single chimney on one occasion. They were mostly deal laths, about nine 

 inches long and an inch or more broad. A bird would grasp one edgewise in its 

 beak, and if the soil was light, it could usually draw it out with but little diffi- 

 culty : but if otherwise, it would pull the label first to one side, then to the 

 other ; and either, by persevering thus, effect its extraction, or tire itself and 

 leave it. 



+ Wolley noticed at the same place that on the first day of his visiting several 

 scores of nests none of the eggs were covered, but that on the two succeeding 

 day."; some of tho.se which had before been examined had their eggs partly or 

 wholly covered by the lining, with the intent, it is supposed, to conceal them. 



