Odd Places for Building. 39 



whether generated simply by fear and former experi- 

 ence (as the Evolutionists would say) I cannot pretend 

 to know. When feeding in flocks in the fields among 

 the grain or roots, they never forget to post a sentinel 

 or two, and a settled, regulated method of interchange 

 of position, which I had observed in my early morning 

 walks before I had been fortunate enough to alight on 

 this most faithful observation in the fascinating pages 

 of the late Charles St. John. 



" It is amusing to watch a large flock of these birds 

 while searching the ground for grain. They walk in a 

 compact body, and in order that all may fare alike, the 

 hindmost rank every now and then fly over the heads 

 of their companions to the front, where they keep the 

 best place for a minute or two, till those now in the 

 rear take their place in the same manner. They keep 

 up this kind of fair-play during the whole time of 

 feeding." 



In feeding on acorns in the woods they seem to 

 proceed less regularly, and are to be found more in 

 pairs. 



It is very odd, considering ^the shyness and cunning 

 and caution of birds, the whimsical and exposed places 

 in which sometimes they will build. It would seem as 

 though in some instances they studiously left room in 

 their choice and style of building for after-ingenuity 

 and resource. A wren last year was actually guilty 

 of the innocent enormity of putting her nest in a cab- 

 bage plant left for seed right over in that corner. Not- 

 withstanding the presence of this seat, which, as I am 

 often here, one would have fancied would have scared 

 off the birds, there are many nests quite close to it. 

 At my right hand, almost overhead, in the ivy over- 

 hanging the old wall, there is a nest of blue tits, and 



