326 REMOVAL OF EGOS AND OF YOUNG. 



Ring-Dotterel, and we know on good authority that the 

 Pheasant will, in like manner, when alarmed, carry off her 

 eggs, and form a new nest ; but with respect to the Woodcock 

 also, the fact may be considered to be established on the 

 authority of other competent witnesses, who had had repeated 

 opportunities of ascertaining the point, in other parts of Scot- 

 land, where Woodcocks frequently breed. It is probably, 

 indeed, more commonly adopted by birds than we suspect. It 

 has been noticed in the case of the Hen Harrier, and the 

 following account from eye-witnesses bears similar testimony 

 to the power of the Owl : — 



A friend of ours had taken a brood of young Owls, and 

 placed them in a recess on a barn-floor, from whence, to his 

 surprise, they soon disappeared, and were again discovered in 

 their original breeding-place. Determined to solve the mystery 

 of this unaccountable removal, he placed them on the barn- 

 floor, and, concealing himself, watched their proceedings, when 

 to his surprise he soon perceived the parent birds gliding down, 

 and, entwining their feet in the feet of their young ones, flew 

 off with them to their nest. To confirm the fact beyond a 

 doubt, the experiment was often repeated in the presence of 

 other witnesses. We have also on record a remarkable instance 

 of Nightingales removing their eggs under peculiar circum- 

 stances, communicated by Mr. Merveaux, of the French 

 Academy of Sciences. A pair of these birds had built their 

 nest in his garden in the lower part of a hedge, containing four 

 eggs, when some water in the neighbourhood rose with such 

 impetuosity as to inundate the garden. Mr. Merveaux watched 

 the Nightingales with some anxiety, and one day when the 

 water had reached to within six paces of the nest he only per- 

 ceived two eggs. He at first thought that the nest had been 

 abandoned, but coming to it very soon after he only saw one, 

 and this time he waited to see the result, and was much aston- 

 ished to see the last egg disappear with the birds, which, flying 

 cautiously but rapidly, carried it to a new nest at the highest 

 part of the hedge, where he saw all the four eggs deposited in 

 safety, and where they were afterwards hatched. He could 

 not, however, ascertain how the parent birds carried these eggs. 



