REMOVAL OF EGGS AND OF YOUNG. 341 



eggs or their young, or both, when disturbed, to a place of 

 greater security ; thus, at page 334, we have instanced the case 

 of the Ring-Dotterel, and we know, on good authority, that 

 the Pheasant will, in like manner, when alarmed, carry off 

 her eggs, and form a new nest ; but with respect to the Wood- 

 cock also, the fact may be considered to be established on the 

 authority of other competent witnesses, who had had repeated 

 opportunities of ascertaining the point, in other parts of 

 Scotland, where Woodcocks frequently breed. It is pro- 

 bably, indeed, more commonly adopted by birds than we 

 suspect ; it has been noticed in the case of the Ring-tailed 

 Glede (Falco cyaneus) ; and the following account from 

 eye-witnesses bears similar testimony to the power of the 

 Owl. 



A friend of ours had taken a brood of young Owls, and 

 placed them in a recess on a barn-floor, from whence, to his 

 surprise, they soon disappeared, and were again discovered in 

 their original breeding-place. Determined to solve the mystery 

 of this unaccountable removal, he placed them on the barn- 

 floor, and concealing himself, watched their proceedings, 

 when to his surprise he soon perceived the parent birds 

 gliding down, and entwining their feet in the feet of their 

 young ones, flew off with them to their nest. To confirm the 

 fact beyond a doubt, the experiment was often repeated, in 

 the presence of other witnesses. We have also on record a 

 remarkable instance of Nightingales removing their eggs 

 under peculiar circumstances, communicated by Mr. Merveaux, 

 of the French Academy of Sciences. A pair of these birds 

 had built their nest in his garden in the lower part of a hedge, 

 containing four eggs, when some water in the neighbour- 

 hood rose with such impetuosity as to inundate the garden. 

 Mr. Merveaux watched the Nightingales with some anxiety, 

 and one day when the water had reached to within six paces 

 of the nest, he only perceived two eggs. He at first thought 

 that the nest had been abandoned, but coming to it very soon 

 after, he only saw one, and this time he waited to see the 

 result, and was much astonished to see the last egg disappear 

 - with the birds, which, flying cautiously but rapidly, carried it to 



