BIRDS' NESTS. 15 



When they had reached the house, the book 

 was fetched, and Mr. Miller found that the 

 nuthatch was there said to make its slight nest, 

 or rather a collection of dead leaves, moss, 

 bits of bark and wood, in holes of trees, and 

 to lay from five to seven eggs, white with some 

 pale-red spots. He found it said also, that if 

 the hole in which it built was large, the bird 

 plastered up part of it with mud, and that if 

 the plastering were removed, it made all right 

 again the first or second day after. It often 

 has desperate battles with some kinds of tits 

 for a favourite nesting-place ; and this may be 

 the reason why it plasters up its hole, as it is 

 much easier to keep out an enemy from a 

 small opening than from a large one. 



Mr. Miller, on first reading this account, 

 was almost sorry that he had taken the eggs, 

 as he thought it possible that the bird might 

 have returned ; but on second thoughts it 

 seemed very unlikely, that a bird that had 

 been caught in its hole, and had had its nest 



