British Birds, their Nests and Eggs. 135 



distance of some feet from the margin of the 

 pool. In the meantime the nest rose rapidly in 

 height, and when the water began to retire the 

 eggs were brought back and placed in the nest. 

 In a few days these w^ere hatched, and the young 

 were swimming with their parents about the 

 pool. The nest plainly showed the formation of 

 the old and new material, and testified to the 

 instinct or reason of the bird architects. In this 

 connection birds have been known to adapt their 

 nests to changed forms of architecture ; and 

 almost innumerable little devices may be seen 

 in individual nests tending to their special safety 

 or protection. As an instance of adaptation to 

 haunt it may be mentioned that in the north, 

 buzzards and ravens invariably nest among the 

 rocks of the crags, whilst in the south their nests 

 are just as invariably found in trees. 



Both the eggs and plumage of game birds 

 offer interesting instances of this adaptation. The 

 pencilled plumage of the snipe lying still in the 

 brown marshes it is impossible to detect, although 

 the birds get up at one's feet everywhere. The 

 same may be said of the woodcock in the leaf- 

 strewn woods, and of the nests and eggs of both 

 species. The eggs of the wild-duck assimilate 

 to the colour of the green reeds, and those of 

 the lapwing to the ploughed field or the upland. 

 The colour of the red grouse conforms very nearly 



