AN INTERESTING FAGGOT 



occasions, driving away the unfortunate owner by force. 

 But though they are always ready to act on the principle 

 that " foolish folk build fine houses for wise folk to live in," 

 when none suitable is to be found ready-made these birds 

 resign themselves to the inevitable and build one for them- 

 selves. Being smaller than the kingly eagle, it naturally 

 follows that they choose smaller sticks and twigs; and as 

 these are to a certain extent pliable, the resulting nest is 

 both firmer in construction and shapelier than the eyry that 

 we have described above, though still very rough and rather 

 ragged in appearance, as you may see from the picture of 

 the falcon's nest facing this page. M. Lescuyer has dissected 

 and analysed a great number of nests of all sorts, and it 

 may be interesting to give an example which is fairly typical 

 of all those made by the birds we are speaking of, because 

 we may gather from it some idea of the great labour and 

 the many journeyings to and fro that go to the making of 

 even so rough a structure as this. Suppose we take as an 

 instance a buzzard's nest which Lescuyer tells us was built 

 in an oak tree. He found that the foundation was com- 

 posed of forty-two fair-sized oak twigs : over these the bird 

 had placed a hundred and ninety finer twigs of the same 

 kind of tree, thirty-five of the holly, eighty-two of the 

 birch, and a round dozen of elm and aspen in all, just 

 three hundred and sixty-one separate sticks! The slight 

 cavity in the middle was lined with earth, which not only 

 helped by its weight as ballast to make the nest more 

 stable, but also formed a screen capable of keeping out the 

 wind, and thus contributed not a little to the warmth of 

 the nest. Lastly, the bird had added an inner lining of 

 extremely fine birch twigs, mingled with bits of bark, roots, 

 leaves, and lichens, for the eggs to rest on. 



It is interesting to note that, as Professor Newton was 



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