NESTS IN ROCKS 163 



ing places. The house sparrow is the most 

 familiar example, together with the house 

 martin and the swallow ; the swift is found 

 nesting under our eaves, as also the starling, 

 while the jackdaw too often takes possession of 

 a disused chimney. 



Rocks, cliffs and crags claim quite a number 

 of nesting species. The golden eagle will occur 

 to all as a chief instance ; the sea eagle or 

 erne, alas, has joined the osprey and is now 

 nought but a memory. The noble peregrine, 

 however, still holds its place, like the harmless, 

 useful buzzard ; and of sea fowl of all sorts, 

 cormorants, shags, gannet, guillemots, gulls and 

 others, it were tedious to make an inventory. 



Coming now to such as build on the ground 

 itself, it seems strange to find a falcon with 

 such modest habit ; yet the merlin, a true little 

 falcon, is content to build its nest among the 

 heather alongside of the grouse, plover and 

 snipe, of whom, one fears, he is hardly a kindly 

 neighbour. Nor does the same moorland 

 heather-bush suggest itself as the most likely 

 nesting-site for any owl ; yet it is there that we 

 shall often find the home and nursery of the 

 short-eared owl, not an uncommon breeding 

 species with us north of Tweed. 



Our game-birds all nest on the ground, 



