EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 17 
against which Lord Nelson was standing when he received 
his death-wound on board the Victory. 
Swallows have also been known to adopt quite foreign 
situations for breeding purposes, such as holes in trees, 
and even openly on the branches. 
Cases are known of the Starling building its nest 
down holes in the earth, and also quite exposed in trees, 
similar to the nest of the Sparrow. It has also been 
found going shares with a Magpie. 
The Pied Wagtail occasionally chooses strange quarters, 
one case being on record of a pair building beneath a rail- 
way switch, over which trains passed nearly every hour in 
the day within a few inches of the nest. 
The roof of a house in Hull was once selected by 
two pairs of Rooks for nidification, and proved a successful 
choice, for they managed to build nests and rear their 
young. 
The Common Wild Duck is also liable to depart widely 
from her usual habit in the selection of a site for her nest, 
sometimes adopting a Crow’s nest, and even the tower of 
a church, which latter has occasioned much speculation 
amongst naturalists as to how the parent bird managed 
to convey her progeny safely to water. 
The Flycatcher is amongst the foremost of our eccentric 
birds in the choice of breeding quarters, its nest having 
been found in street lamps in different parts of the country, 
and in one instance on the head of a hoe hanging against 
the wall of a tool-house. The nest was removed whilst 
the hoe was being used, and, when replaced, the birds, 
instead of deserting it, resumed operations, and eventually 
reared their brood. 
Another very interesting curiosity of recent date 
B 
