NESTS IN HOLLOW TREES. 27 



growing wood at the mouth of the orifice had 

 contracted the entrance, and at last closed it up 

 for ever, leaving the nest hermetically sealed up 

 in the hole of the tree. Whilst two sawyers 

 were at work at a ship-builder's yard in Dundee, 

 cutting up an oak log into planks, they discovered 

 a neatly-built wren's nest, with an egg in it, 

 firmly embedded in the heart of the wood. Con- 

 sidering the age of the tree, it was thought 

 probable that it must have been thus imprisoned 

 for more than fifty years. " The Morning Herald " 

 of June 15, 1825, relates that when two men 

 were sawing a larch tree upon the estate of 

 Lynedoch, they discovered a bird's nest with eggs 

 in the centre of the trunk. It must have re- 

 mained in that situation for a considerable time, 

 as the aperture by which the parents had obtained 

 access to the nest was entirely closed up by the 

 bark of the tree. 



It appears from the observations of various 

 naturalists, that the birds which, like woodpeckers, 

 select the interior of trees for the situation of 

 their nests, must generally fix upon some diseased 

 and softened part, which they perforate by means 

 of their bills, Mr. Audubon says that frequently 



