58 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



Sometimes the materials are stolen. When this 

 is the case, the scene is rendered highly amusing. 

 A curious anecdote is related of a thieving gold- 

 crested regulus,* by Mr. Thompson. A friend of 

 the narrator's, while attending to the nest-building 

 of a chaffinch near his window, found that he was 

 not the only spectator, a regulus at some little 

 distance being recognised as a looker-on. When 

 the chaffinch took flight from the nest, this bird 

 in the most cunning manner stole round to it in 

 an opposite direction, and carried off part of the 

 materials. This evil habit became confirmed, and 

 in at least a dozen instances the bird was seen to 

 be guilty of a similar theft. The industrious chaf- 

 finch, however, ultimately discovered the fraud, 

 and caught the thief in the very act ! The latter 

 instantly took flight, with the wronged chaffinch 

 in hot pursuit ai'ter it. After a long chase, the 

 thief got away, not having been " stopped " by any 

 of the respectable inhabitants of the grove. The 

 lesson, however, proved a salutary one, and the 

 regulus either fell into more regular habits, or else 

 pursued his depredations elsewhere. 



The jackdaw is a terrible depredator on occa- 

 * Annal. Xat. Hist. vol. i. p. 25. 



