63 



EEDSTART. 



BED-TAIL. FIKE-TAIL. BRAN-TAIL. PIEEY BRAN-TAIL. 



PLATE CX. 



Sylvia Phcenicurw, LATHAM. PENNANT. 



Phoenicura ruticiUa, SELBT. SWAINSON. 



Buticilla Phoenicurus, MACGILLIVBAY. 



MotacilJa Phctnicurus, MONTAGU. 



THE nest, which is more or less well concealed, and rather loosely 

 constructed, is built of moss, dry grass, and leaves, and lined with 

 hair and feathers. It is frequently placed in a hole in an old wall, 

 under the eaves of a house, in a hollow or hole in a tree, or even 

 between the branches of one, as also against a wall, if extraneous 

 support is afforded. One has been known to have been placed in a 

 watering-pot, others in flower-pots, and one in a hole in the ground, 

 even where such a choice was not made from necessity. It is frequently 

 placed close to or in the wall of a house, and that where persons are 

 constantly passing, even within reach of the hand. Another has been 

 known also placed on the ground under an inverted flower-pot; the hen 

 bird successfully reared her brood, the flower-pot, which was at first 

 unwittingly removed, having been replaced by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, 

 who relates the circumstance in 'The Zoologist/ page 355. Bishop 

 Stanley mentions one he had known 'built on the narrow space between 

 the gudgeons or narrow upright iron on which a garden door was hung; 

 the bottom of the nest, of course, resting on the iron hinge, which 

 must have shaken it every time the door was opened. Nevertheless, 

 there she sat, in spite of all the inconvenience and publicity, exposed 

 as she was to all who were constantly passing to fro/ Another has 

 been known in like manner to sit through the din of three looms at 

 work from five o'clock in the morning until ten at night, within 



