110 TAXIDERMY. 



volumes, is indispensable to all naturalists. We 

 there find all beings classed according to their na- 

 tural affinities, founded on comparative anatomy ; 

 but it did not enter into the plan of this author to 

 speak of the manners of birds. We therefore 

 think it useful to offer some hints for procuring arid 

 preserving eggs and nests. 



Birds of prey construct their nests in the holes 

 of rocks, or on large trees. Owls and crows place 

 theirs in the holes of steeples, old towers, and in 

 rocks ; the pici in hollow trees, or in the holes 

 they have themselves made, and the openings of 

 which we must enlarge to take away the eggs ; the 

 lanii make their nests on trees, and sometimes lay 

 their eggs in those of other species, which they 

 seize by force; the thrushes, the blackbirds, &c. 

 nest at a moderate height on fruit trees, in hedges, 

 and often in the neighbourhood of houses ; the nu- 

 merous family of warblers in warrens, bushes, 

 briers, &c. The greater part of the Gallinacese 

 make their nests on the ground, in cultivated fields ; 

 they form them with a little dry grass, which they 

 put into a hole, and it would be too troublesome 

 to remove them ; we must content ourselves by 

 carefully describing them, and taking the eggs. 

 We must do thus by several birds' nests which are 

 not sufficiently solid for them to be conveyed. 



We know very little of the nests of exotic birds, 



