94 



Al'KiL. 



on the naked fallow, to that of the eagle in its lofty 

 and inaccessible eyrie ; in the different degrees of 

 art displayed, from the rude raft of a few sticks, 

 made by the wood-pigeon, to the exquisite little 

 dome of the golden-crested wren, or the long-tailed 

 titmouse (parus caudatus), a perfect oval stuck 

 between the branches of a tree, having a small hole 

 on one side for entrance ; the interior lined with the 

 most downy feathers, enriched with sixteen or 

 seventeen eggs, like small oval pearls ; and the 

 exterior most tastefully decorated with a profusion 

 of spangles of silvery lichen on dark-green moss. 



Boys are completely absorbed in their admiration 

 of birds' nests. In vain do parents scold about torn 

 clothes, scratched hands, shoes spoiled with dew ; 

 every field and wood is traversed, every bush ex- 

 plored : no tree is too high, no rock too dangerous 

 to climb ; sticks split at the end are thrust into every 

 hollow in wall, eaves, or tree-trunk, to twist out the 

 hidden nest ; and I myself recollect being held by 

 the heels over an old coal-pit sixty yards deep, to 

 reach a blackbird's nest built in a hole two or three 

 feet below the surface of the ground. 



But it is not boys merely who are struck with the 

 beauty of birds' nests and eggs, and with the pic- 

 turesque situations in which they are placed ; there 

 are few people of taste residing in the country who 

 do not see them with a lively pleasure. Let us take 

 a survey of these interesting objects. Let us sup- 

 pose that we are in an old farm-house. The 

 chimney is inhabited by the swallow, and the eaves 



