RING PIGEON, OR CUSHAT. 137 



habits of the cunning magpie and predacious carrion 

 crow. 



The nest of the cushat is a flimsy fabric, being 

 a mere platform of small twigs loosely interwoven, 

 so open, indeed, that the eggs, in one newly built, 

 and before it becomes thickened by the droppings of 

 a previous brood, may be seen through it from be- 

 neath ; and so slight is the central depression, that it 

 frequently happens, where the incubating bird is sud- 

 denly disturbed, the eggs, in the hurry to escape, are 

 tumbled from the nest, and perish upon the ground. 

 The site selected for nidification is various, and no 

 tree or bush seems to come amiss at certain periods 

 of the year. In early spring, however, and before 

 the deciduous trees acquire their umbrageous and 

 leafy covering, firs, and other evergreens, are pre- 

 ferred, on account of the better concealment and pro- 

 tection they afford. From this diversity of site, the 

 nest is necessarily placed at various elevations, at 

 one time being far removed from the ground, as 

 when it is built near the summit of a lofty spruce, 

 or in the thick foliage of a beech or sycamore, at an- 

 other scarcely out of reach, and but a few feet from 

 the earth, as we find it in the holly, the young fir, 

 the thorn, or other bushy trees. The eggs, always 

 two in number, are white, of an oblong form, and 

 rounded nearly equally at both ends. Incubation 

 lasts from eighteen to twenty days, and both sexes 

 sit alternately, the male taking the place of his mate 

 when hunger compels her to quit the nest, and 80 



