NOTES OF AN EAST COAST 

 NATURALIST 



BIRD NOTES 



SWALLOWS' NESTING-SIIT& ; ? \? * ' 



r T^HE Swallow is extremely capricious Jn its choice 

 -* of locations for the building of its nest, the 

 chief object of its solicitude apparently being im- 

 munity from the inclemency of the weather rather 

 than suitability or comfort of the situation. In the 

 summer of 1878 a pair built their nest in the hold 

 of the old ship Agnes, a brigantine of the days of 

 Nelson, that had been scuttled and sunk at the 

 entrance of a creek or " drain " on Breydon in order 

 to divert the current. Several feet of water were in 

 the hold of the vessel, no great space intervening 

 between the surface of the water and the deck. 



The little mud cradle, suspended on a beam, was 



i 



