294 THE MAGPIE 



from five to seven in number, deeply and securely 

 housed within it. I have climbed, in my time, to 

 some sixty magpies' nests at every stage of their 

 construction and of the growth of their inmates, 

 and I have never reached terra firma again, 

 without marvelling at the high constructive art 

 displayed in them. At the bottom, comes the 

 layer of sticks so kindly suggested by the black- 

 bird ; then a layer, or some big lumps, of well- 

 tempered mud and clay binding them together ; 

 and so on, sticks and mortar, mortar and sticks, 

 in alternate strata, as though it were lath and 

 plaster laid by an accomplished plasterer. Then 

 succeed thinner twigs and pliant rootlets wound 

 round the deep cup-like hollow, which can be 

 reached only through a hole in the side, just large 

 enough to admit the bird's body, and fenced 

 round outside by a perfect cheval-de-frise of the 

 sharpest thorns the bird can collect, chiefly black- 

 thorn. The whole is surmounted by a dome of 

 sticks, loosely yet securely interlacing, not intended 

 to keep out the rain, which is quite unnecessary, 

 but serving as a perfectly secure protection against 

 any larger bird of prey which may wish to force 

 its way in, whether to suck the eggs, or to take 

 possession of a nest so much better built than any 



