PLATE I 

 J A C K D A W. Corvus monedula 



l 26th, 1893. This nest was placed in one of the small windows in the 

 Priory of Inchmahome on the island in the Lake of Monteith. It was a 

 tremendous structure, the foundation being made of ash sticks, and the upper 

 part of the nest of fine sticks, moss, seeds, and dead iris leaves, the whole 

 being lined copiously with sheep's wool and rabbit's fur. The sides of the 

 nest were embellished with pieces of dirty paper. The nest was only about 

 five feet from the ground in one of the vaulted parts of the building and 

 contained five fresh eggs. 



All round the Priory are huge old Spanish chestnuts, many of which 

 are quite hollow and contain great numbers of Jackdaw's nests, as many as 

 eleven being in one cavity. The amount of rubbish and sticks collected in 

 some of these holes is enormous. When one old tree was blown down by the 

 gale in 1894 the whole of the hollow trunk, nearly three feet in diameter 

 inside, was filled with a miscellaneous collection of sticks, rags, paper, reeds, 

 and moss, which had been accumulated by the Jackdaws year by year. In 

 one nest in the building I found remains of the picnic parties which had 

 visited the island several corks, an old torn handkerchief, newspapers, and 

 paper bags, and the handle of a china tea-cup with part of the broken cup 

 attached. 



There was a very large colony of Jackdaws on the face of a steep hill 

 overlooking the Lake, but about half a mile distant. Most of the nests were 

 in rabbit-holes, and though nearly a mile from the nearest houses, the 

 collection of rubbish in the nests was most surprising, articles such as a bent 

 iron spoon having been carried to one nest, and a piece of a clay pipe to 

 another. 



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