SPRING BIRD LIFE 17 



Consider the nest of the long-tailed tit, with its 

 shining adornment of lichens, stitched together with 

 fragile threads, woven in the spider's loom. The 

 lining consists of no less than two thousand feathers. 

 How many farmyards, and rustic lanes, and shaded 

 woodlands, and cool stream-sides has the little bird 

 visited in making this collection ? Why, half the 

 ornithology of the district is represented there ! 



The nests are hard to find ; not because they 

 are hidden away where the twigs and branches 

 are thickest, but, because the fabric blends so 

 delicately and tenderly with its surroundings, that 

 it deceives the eye. Though straight before me, 

 without the shelter of a single twig, it is a long 

 time before I can separate each one from its sur- 

 roundings. The bunch of lichens on the fork of 

 the fir-tree, exactly resembling those which cover 

 the rest of the trunk, is that daintiest sample of 

 bird architecture the nest of the chaffinch. 



The female is so soberly, and harmoniously 

 coloured, that I can scarcely tell that she is 

 sitting. Thus, during the critical period, when she 

 is almost constantly on the nest, and an easy prey 

 to any enemy, she has a maximum chance of escap- 

 ing observation. 



The male chaffinch is the brightest of woodland 

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