NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS 



in the Western Isles may be gathered 

 from the fact that I have found no fewer 

 than seven nests in the course of a zig- 

 zag walk of a mile or so from the house 

 of one friend to that of another. As an 

 indication of the wide variety of sites 

 chosen by the Mountain Linnet as the 

 bird is sometimes called for its little 

 home, I will mention the places in which 

 I discovered the above-named nests. Two 

 were in holes in a dry stone wall, the one 

 containing eggs, figured in our illustration, 

 at the top of a stone wall and sheltered 

 by a piece of overhanging turf, which had 

 been placed there to increase the height 

 of the fence ; one in a tuft of heather 

 growing close to a half-buried rock ; one 

 in a furze bush where a Common Linnet's 

 nest might have been expected ; another 

 in a stunted gooseberry bush ; and the 

 last in an ivy geranium growing inside a 

 small greenhouse, to which the birds 

 gained entrance through a broken pane 

 in the roof. On more than one occasion 

 I have found a nest, containing eggs or 

 young ones, under an overhanging tuft 

 of grass growing from a crevice of rock 

 on the small piece of North Uist Coast 

 shown in the tailpiece to this article. 

 A Twite's nest sometimes takes a long 

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