114 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



even in old chimneys, but it is my opinion that they only 

 locate themselves in such a smoky atmosphere when no 

 better place is procurable; they have also been found 

 amongst the brickwork of disused limekilns. The nest is 

 composed of clay or mud mixed with straw, hay, and rushes, 

 lined with soft light feathers, usually gathered whilst the 

 bird is on the wing. When a boy, I have amused myself 

 for hours flying feathers for the dexterous Swallows and 

 Martins to carry off to their nests, and have always 

 observed that if the Swallow let a feather fall from her 

 nest whilst building it, and did not catch it before 

 reaching the ground, she allowed it to remain there, often 

 to betray the locality of her eggs. The Swallow does 

 not exhibit the same amount of care over the formation 

 of her nest as the Common Martin or Sand Martin, and 

 leaves it open at the top. She lays four or five eggs, 

 white, which are unlike those of the other species of the 

 family, inasmuch as they are speckled with brown, which 

 generally forms a belt round the larger end of the egg. 



THE SPARROW-HAWK. 



The Sparrow-Hawk lays from four to six eggs of a bluish- 

 white, spotted more numerously at the larger end with 

 red-brown blotches. It will often utilise the disused nest 

 of the Magpie or Crow, and, like most birds that prey upon 

 others, breeds later. Occasionally, the birds form rude 

 structures of their own, but as a rule prefer plundering, 

 and like all such immoral characters, have in consequence 

 lost a great deal of their own original skill. 



