16 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



The nest itself is almost always at that point 

 in a bush where heath, and often coarse grass, 

 pushing up through the dead base of the furze, joins 

 forces with the lowest live shoots at a height of 

 from one to two feet from the soil, and is usually 

 half supported by the heath, half held up by the 

 furze. Some few examples, however, look for a 

 hold to the dead gorse stems alone. Generally 

 the nest is well inside the bush, but occasionally 

 a small portion of it is visible without any parting 

 of the surrounding foliage. In certain districts, 

 where the birds habitually breed in heather, the 

 nest is placed in a clump of tall growth, generally 

 four or five inches from the ground, caught up by 

 and half resting on, half suspended from, the dead 

 growth decking the interior, and perfectly invisible 

 till the growth has been parted. In such cases, the 

 sitting bird may be beaten off. 



Many observers say that the nest is strikingly 

 flimsy, more so even that that of the Lesser 

 Whitethroat ; but, despite the fact that nests for 

 second broods are slightly frailer than first attempts, 

 even these can seldom be termed truly flimsy. In 

 fact, with most specimens you can only just discern 

 daylight through a few chinks in their base. The 

 following description of four nests will give a fair 

 idea of their construction : 



The first has a circumference of 14 in. ; it is 

 4^ in. by 4| in. across, with an " egg-cup " 2^ in. 

 across by 2 in. deep. It is compact and quite 



