AERIES 



tver, is a distinct advantage ; placed as it usually is, on or 

 near the lichen-covered branch of a fir tree, the outside of 

 the nest, loosely woven with the same sort of grey vegeta- 

 tion, harmonizes so wonderfully with its surroundings that 

 it is almost impossible to detect it from below, and even 

 from above, whence it might be recognized by the [cavity, 

 it is often so perfectly concealed by a branch as to escape 

 notice even at close quarters. It is quite possible that you 

 may watch a siskin busily engaged in building its nest and 

 yet, on climbing the tree, be quite unable to discover the 

 structure. This has given rise to a curious belief in some parts 

 of the Continent that these birds place in their nests stones 

 which have the property of making them invisible. 



NESTS MADE CHIEFLY OF STICKS, TWIGS, &c. 



Birds which make the framework of their nests of twigs 

 and sticks are very numerous, and include nearly all the 

 diurnal birds of prey (such as eagles, falcons, hawks, kites, 

 harriers, vultures, and buzzards), besides many others. 



It is perhaps rather an excess of courtesy to include some 

 of these birds amongst the makers of basket-work ; their 

 nests are commonly quite coarsely and roughly made, the 

 best of them being feebly suggestive of those carelessly con- 

 structed wicker trays which are used in some countries for 

 carrying fruit and fish ; while others are mere faggots, thrown 

 together with very little attempt at arrangement. Such 

 structures can scarcely be called nests at all, and it is for- 

 tunate that in the case of the larger birds of prey we 

 have another term to apply to them. This is the word 

 " aerie " or " eyry," which is generally used when speaking of 

 the loftily situated nest of an eagle. 



The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus) usually makes his 

 eyry on a rocky platform high on the face of a precipice in 

 some wild mountainous district, often below an overhanging 

 F 85 



