112 BIRDS' NESTS. 



together so compactly as to be equal to bearing 

 the weight of four or five young birds, and 

 that the structure should all the while be so 

 flimsy in appearance that one can see through 

 it. I have only once before seen one of these 

 nests, and that was when first I came to live 

 in this county. I several times saw a bird 

 which I supposed to be a greater whitethroat 

 fly from the same bush, and after searching 

 more than once, I found what I supposed to 

 be an unfinished nest. At length, being sur- 

 prised at the time which the birds took to 

 build their nest, I put my fingers in, and 

 my great astonishment found three eggs." 



"And how did you know that it was 

 lesser whitethroat's nest ? " 



" Why, oddly enough, Mr. Dean called on 

 me the same day, and asked me to tell him 

 the name of a little bird which he had just 

 shot. I had never seen it before, but on con- 

 sulting Yarrell's British Birds, I found it was 

 a lesser whitethroat, and on inquiring of Mr. 



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