2 7 4 



THE BIRDS 



webs ; on the outside it is adorned with lichens, and internally it 

 is lined with soft feathers. In shape the nest is nearly oval, and 

 the entrance is a small hole on one side ; it is usually placed amidst 

 the small branches of trees or thick bushes, and the framework 

 of the nest is so firmly interwoven with them that the structure 

 cannot be removed without damage unless the surrounding branches 

 are taken too. Although it is such a wonderful and striking little 

 nursery it is not at all noticeable as it rests in its natural position, 

 the lichen with which it is encrusted causing it to harmonise 

 perfectly with its surroundings. 



Humming-birds make the most charming little purse-like 

 nests of soft felt woven almost entirely of cotton-down. The tailor- 

 bird deftly stitches the edges of a leaf with vegetable fibres, or 

 even with manufactured threads if it happens to find any about, 

 and fills the little pocket thus made with softest cotton-down. 

 Many species suspend their nests from branches of trees or amongst 

 reeds and rushes ; a beautiful example of this type of nest is made 

 by the little golden-crested wren, the smallest of all British birds. 

 Soft green moss and wool are used in its construction, interwoven 

 with long grasses and spiders' webs, while inside it is finished 

 off with a few small feathers. It is usually suspended from 

 the smaller twigs of a spreading branch of a larch, fir, yew, or 

 cedar tree. 



In many cases the female undertakes the entire building of 

 the nest as well as the brooding and rearing of the young, but 

 these duties are very often shared by the male bird, and in some 

 instances he has the whole burden of providing for his offspring 

 thrust upon him by his mate, who considers she has accomplished 

 all that is required of her when she has laid the eggs, and so 

 departs, leaving them to his sole care. 



For the incubation of their eggs and upbringing of their young 

 most birds prefer privacy, and the greater number of nests are 

 built singly ; some species, however, build in colonies. Swallows, 

 rooks, herons, and the majority of the sea-fowl form large breeding 

 communities, but, although the nests are often closely packed 

 together, each bird, or pair of birds, has a nest, or particular site, 

 of its own. Two species of birds, however, have adopted an even 

 more sociable arrangement ; the grosbeak and the weaver-bird of 

 Africa form large colonies in which all the members combine to 



