296 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PL A Y 



huts for the bird to nest in. This martin is larger 

 than a swift, with plumage of a lovely deep purple, 

 and is a bold and unflinching assailant of hawks, or 

 even of the eagle itself, if it comes near the nest/ 



In England, as in America, most birds that build 

 in holes can be easily attracted by anything like a 

 box with a hole in the side. Woodpeckers, nuthatches 

 and wrynecks nearly always prefer to hollow out a 

 hole for themselves ; and a few dead branches, or 

 even dead trees left in the garden, will nearly always 

 attract one or the other. The wrynecks always like 

 a dead willow better than any other tree. If there 

 is a pond, waterhens are sure to know of it, for they 

 are great travellers, especially at night ; and a pair 

 are almost certain to take possession of it, if there 

 are one or two bushes on the bank with boughs just 

 touching the water, so that they may form a basis 

 for the floating nest. But the birds most wanted in 

 a garden are all those warblers which come to us during 

 the spring and summer. They are the most useful, 

 for they are exclusively insect-eaters, and the most 

 charming, for, except the chiff-chaff, they all sing 

 sweetly. They can be won over with ease, for they 

 come to us on purpose to nest ; and every cock-bird 

 that arrives selects some pleasant spot, where his mate, 

 when he has won her by outsinging his rivals, can 

 build her nest. The redstart, the most beautiful of 



