GARDEN AND ORCHARD BIRD-LIFE. 6 1 



precedent in our experience. The trunk of the 

 tree is hollow almost from root to branch, and a 

 fissure, varying in width from one to three inches, 

 runs down one side of it for quite a couple of feet. 

 This fissure can scarcely be detected, for the old 

 Nuthatches have filled it up with clay throughout, 

 leaving a nice round hole at the top for entrance. 

 This site has been occupied for several years in 

 succession, the plaster work being repaired each 

 spring. At the bottom of the hole about a teacup- 

 ful of bark flakes forms the nest in which the 

 white eggs, spotted with reddish-brown, are laid. 

 Curiously enough, this habit of plastering is by no 

 means universally known to the country people ; 

 and we can specially recall the astonishment 

 manifested by an old bird-catching friend of ours 

 when the clay work in this particular nest was 

 pointed out to him. 



Orchards are the favourite breeding places of 

 many hole-building species. The four commoner 

 British species of Titmice may not unfrequently 

 be noticed within the precincts of a good-sized 

 orchard at the same time. The most abundant 

 and widely dispersed is the familiar Blue Tit ; 

 next we should place the Great Tit ; then the 



