296 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



huts for the bird to nest in. This martin is larger 

 than a swift, with plumage of a lovely deep purple, 

 and is a bold and unflinching assailant of hawks, or 

 even of the eagle itself, if it comes near the nest.' 



In England, as in America, most birds that build 

 in holes can be easily attracted by anything like a 

 box with a hole in the side. Woodpeckers, nuthatches 

 and wrynecks nearly always prefer to hollow out a 

 hole for themselves ; and a few dead branches, or 

 even dead trees left in the garden, will nearly always 

 attract one or the other. The wrynecks always like 

 a dead willow better than any other tree. If there 

 is a pond, waterhens are sure to know of it, for they 

 are great travellers, especially at night ; and a pair 

 are almost certain to take possession of it, if there 

 are one or two bushes on the bank with boughs just 

 touching the water, so that they may form a basis 

 for the floating nest. But the birds most wanted in 

 a garden are all those warblers which come to us during 

 the spring and summer. They are the most useful, 

 for they are exclusively insect-eaters, and the most 

 charming, for, except the chiff-chaff, they all sing 

 sweetly. They can be won over with ease, for they 

 come to us on purpose to nest ; and every cock-bird 

 that arrives selects some pleasant spot, where his mate, 

 when he has won her by outsinging his rivals, can 

 build her nest. The redstart, the most beautiful of 



