38 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



and nature, such as a sparrowhawk, jackdaw, 

 green woodpecker, nuthatch, and wren, all build- 

 ing and having either eggs or young ones, at the 

 same time, either on or in the same tree. This 

 happened in an old oak tree, near a place at which 

 I was residing, the heart of which is completely 

 decayed. On the topmost branches a pair of 

 sparrowhawks had made them a nest, which, at 

 the time I examined it, contained four eggs. In 



7 OO 



a hollow of the tree near the top was a jackdaw's 

 nest with five young ones. A little lower a wood- 

 pecker was hatching five eggs ; still lower was a 

 nuthatch's nest containing seven young birds, and 

 near the foot of the tree, in one of the crevices of 

 the bark, which was overgrown with ivy, a pair 

 of wrens had made their domicile, in which were 

 several eggs. These birds seemed to live in 

 perfect harmony, as I watched them frequently." 



Mr. Jesse relates the following anecdote of the 

 affection subsisting betw.een two birds. A gentle- 

 man in Scotland had a cock pheasant sent him, 

 which he confined in a pen with a solitary chicken. 

 These birds formed a great affection for each other, 

 which they showed in various ways. After a 

 time the pheasant died, and was immediately 

 stuffed, and the chicken was turned loose. It 

 appeared miserable, however, after the death of 

 its companion, and the stuffed bird having been 



