DAWS AND ROOKS. 9 



same places : and the battlements of Windsor 

 Castle were at one time crowded with these voci- 

 ferous tenants. Many birds make choice of the 

 ground for the situation of their nests. The 

 Loon, which abounds in several parts of the 

 United States, places it upon hillocks of weeds and 

 mud, prepared by the musk-rat, on the edges of 

 the lakes. Other nests are situated actually upon 

 the mud, among the rank weeds, not far from the 

 water. Audubon saw one such nest, after the 

 young had left it, almost afloat, and rudely at- 

 tached to the rushes ; its base being placed on the 

 bottom, eight or nine inches under water. The 

 crevices of the rocks are the sheltering places of 

 others. Others place their nests on the moor; 

 others on the naked surface of cliffs. To some 

 the river-side, to others the desolate sea-shore, 

 affords a favourite site. And while some uncon- 

 cernedly expose their fabric to the glare of day, 

 others burrow into the earth, and there, in a dark 

 and silent cave, bring forth the egg and tend the 

 young. While some also delight to hang their 

 fairy-like nests in the branches of trees; others 

 tunnel into the trunk, and in a wooden cell pass 

 the anxious time of parentage. 



