Nests in Trees 



when they are completed. Such a state of affairs would 

 be fatal to the safety of the eggs, but the little architect 

 is fully equal to the occasion. No, it does not build its 

 nest anew, but daubs mud or even weaves small pebbles 

 into the nest fabric in sufficient quantity to restore 

 equilibrium. 



The nest of one of our British birds, the chaffinch, is 

 strongly reminiscent of the architecture of the humming- 

 birds. A clumsy structure maybe compared to a humming- 

 bird's nest is that of the chaffinch, yet for deftness of 

 working and in neatness there is no bird anywhere to 

 beat the " storm-bird," as the chaffinch is called in some 

 parts of the country. The bird always selects a spot 

 which offers a firm foundation for its nest, such as the 

 point where several branches issue close together from a 

 tree trunk. Wool is the chief component of the structure, 

 but the wool is so deftly woven with moss, thistle-down, 

 and spiders' webs that the whole forms a felt of remark- 

 able firmness and elasticity. In fact the chaffinch's nest 

 may often be pressed almost perfectly flat, yet it will 

 regain its normal shape when the pressure is removed. 



The outside of the nest is always decked with some 

 substance which harmonises with its surroundings and 

 renders it very inconspicuous ; so well, in fact, does the 

 little bird accomplish its object that its nest is never easy 

 to find. The variability of external building material is 

 the most remarkable fact about the chaffinch's nest. " A 

 nest built in a dead gorse bush had the outside garnished 

 with little pieces of decayed wood to imitate the brown 

 foliage and withered blooms of the bush ; a nest on the 

 lichen-covered branch of a birch-tree was studded so 

 thickly with bits of lichens, attached by spiders' webs, 

 as to resemble a knotted prominence of the birch itself; 

 lastly, a nest composed externally of the greenest of 

 mosses, bespangled with small bits of white paper, was 

 built in a whitethorn in full flower, and it resembled most 

 closely an exceptionally handsome bunch of bloom." 



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