54 THE WARBLERS 



time the exquisitely felted nursery was finished. It is perhaps not 

 to be wondered at that, when the six or eight lively youngsters reared 

 within are nearly fledged, the bottom of the dainty nest sometimes 

 wears through nursery floors surely require stronger joists than 

 cobwebs with the result that some of the brood are suddenly 

 deposited on the lower branches of the tree, or even on the ground 

 beneath. When such an accident occurs, the little ones have to be 

 rounded up to a place of safety by the anxious parents. This was the 

 case with two nests that I found in May 1908, each within a few feet 

 of each other, in a fine old low-branching yew-tree. 



On May 26, 1910, I almost stepped into a nest lying on a narrow 

 path bordering a dyke in Norfolk. The tiny twisted ropes by which 

 this nest had been suspended were broken, so that " down came 

 cradle and babies and all." Had not the mother flown up almost 

 from beneath my feet, I should not have seen this wrecked nursery. 

 I put the nest, which contained seven young ones, under some 

 sheltering nettles away from the footpath, and watched the parents, 

 who immediately continued feeding their dislodged brood regardless 

 of my presence. My camera was on the opposite side of a wide dyke 

 by a nuthatch's nest, and while crossing the plank which bridged 

 the dyke, I fell in. By the time I recovered from this un- 

 expected ducking, the light had gone, and though I exposed one 

 or two plates, they were failures. 



Being very anxious about the safety of the young goldcrests, 

 I did what seemed to me a very wise thing knocked the bottom 

 out of a box about eight inches deep, and placed the four walls 

 round the nest, so as to prevent the half-fledged birds from straying. 

 The event proved disastrous, for when I returned on the 27th five 

 of them were dead ; while the two strongest, which had managed to 

 surmount this obstacle to their freedom, were being fed by their 

 parents in the tangled undergrowth about twenty yards away. I have 

 mentioned this incident in order to illustrate the fact that birds 

 vary considerably in intelligence. There was no reason why the 



