BIRDS OF PREY 91 



its nest some inaccessible place a hole in a 

 rotten tree, an unused dovecot, a cranny in a 

 ruined building, or the like. The nest is a 

 large structure made of straw lined with hair, 

 and contains four to seven delicate greenish- 

 blue eggs (Plate VI, , Fig. 12). The starling 

 sometimes drops its eggs on the ground in a 

 most unaccountable way. On one day I 

 picked up two of them, quite unbroken, which 

 were lying on the grass beside the path, half 

 a mile apart. 



The birds of prey used to be placed first in 

 lists of species ; but most modern naturalists 

 begin with the thrushes. The Raptores are, 

 however, a very important group, and as a 

 representative of them I have selected the 

 Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus). It builds 

 in a tree, making its nest of sticks lined with 

 fibres. It lays from four to six eggs, bluish- 

 white, with reddish-brown blotches, mostly at 

 the larger end (Plate VII., Fig. 1). The nests 

 of birds of prey are invariably in dangerous 

 situations, yet boys do not hesitate to risk 

 their lives in pursuit of the eggs or young. 



I knew of one instance which well illus- 

 trates this fact. A certain boy was most 



