OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



of the coarser materials, before it is wanted, and let 

 it remain in this state for some days, and then finish 

 it on a sudden. In other cases I have known the 

 nest entirely completed, and afterwards a fortnight 

 or more elapse before laying commenced. This last 

 circumstance I have observed occasionally in the 

 chaffinch; and had been led to suppose in such 

 instances that the nest from some cause had been 

 deserted. I passed it day after day, and found it 

 exactly in the same state, without any eggs in it. 

 But it proved, in the end, to be only a delay, from 

 the circumstance of the nest not being needed sooner. 

 After an interval of longer or shorter duration, the 

 eggs were duly laid, and the brood reared. I have 

 noticed the same habit in the tree creeper. 



BIRDS APPEARING FAT IN WINTER. 



THE circumstance of birds puffing themselves out, 

 so as to appear plump, in severe weather, has been 

 often noticed. 



" The redbreast, ruffled up by winter's cold 

 Into a feathery bunch," 



has not escaped the observation of the poet. But if 

 this is what White alludes to, when he speaks of 

 " birds growing fatter in moderate frosts," I conceive 

 he is wrong as to the fact, to say nothing of the way 

 in which he attempts to explain it. His remark, in- 

 deed, in the first instance, is in reference to " long- 

 billed birds" (the Grallatores I presume he means) ; 

 with regard to which it may be true, though I am 



