CHAPTER XII 



SOME STRANGE NESTS 



NOTHING that birds do has ever been more 

 attractive than the making of the cradles for 

 their eggs and young, and some of these are 

 so extraordinary that one could hardly be- 

 lieve them to be the work of creatures with 

 only bills and claws unless one really knew 

 this was the case. In this country we have 

 not any nest-builders which can compare for 

 skill with the birds I shall be speaking of 

 presently, but there are one or two here 

 which can challenge the world for energy in 

 getting work done, which, after all, is what one 

 ought to expect from a British bird. The 

 wren, for instance, has been known to put 

 its big domed nest together in a day, which 

 means very quick and hard work indeed ; and 

 then there is the sand-martin, which is the 

 most wonderful of all burrowing creatures. 



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