BIRDS* NESTS. 253 



really quite unconscious. It has even been put forward 

 that the colours of their eggs are intended to deceive ; 

 and those of the dotterel, laid on the open beach, are 

 often mentioned as an instance. The resemblance of 

 the dotterel's egg to a pebble is no greater than the 

 resemblance between many eggs laid in nests and peb- 

 bles. If the whitethroat eggs were taken from the nest 

 and placed among particoloured pebbles such as are 

 common on some shores, it would need care to distin- 

 guish them. If the dotterel's eggs were put down 

 among grass, or even among the clods of ploughed land, 

 they would be equally difficult to find. You might as 

 well suppose that the whitethroat is aware that nettles 

 will sting the human hand approaching its nest as that 

 eggs are especially adjusted in colour to deceive human 

 eyes. As for deceiving the eyes of those birds that are 

 fond of eating eggs, the thing is impossible ; the size of 

 the egg is alone sufficient : how conceal an object of 

 that size from an eye that can distinguish insects ? 

 The egg takes its chance, coloured or not. Sportsmen 

 would be very glad if pheasants would kindly learn by 

 experience, and lay eggs of a hue invisible to the poach- 

 ing rook or crow. Nor is this nest, that seems so slender 

 and so delicately made, really so slender to the bird it- 

 self. To a man or woman, so many times larger than 

 the nest, its construction appears intricate. Suppose a 

 lady stands five feet four inches high, and the nest 

 placed in her hand measures two inches across : the 

 difference is immense. The bird who built it is smaller 

 than the nest. The thing is reversed, and it does not 

 look tiny to the bird. The horsehair or fibre, which to 

 us is an inch or two long, to the bird is a bamboo or 

 cane three or four feet in length. No one would con- 

 sider it difficult to weave cane or willow wands as tall as 

 himself. The girls at Luton perform much more difficult 



