BIRDS' NESTS. 125 



JACKDAW. Corvus Monedula. 



PLATE VIII. FIG. 3. 



THE Jackdaw, like most large birds, the 

 nests of which from their size are conspicuous 

 objects, usually fixes his abode in elevated 

 places, frequenting and building in church- 

 towers, belfries, steeples, quarries, and the face 

 of perpendicular cliffs, and not unfrequently 

 selecting a hollow tree. The nest, which is 

 often of very large size, is constructed of dry 

 sticks, and is lined with wool or other soft 

 substances. In the Botanic Garden at Cain- 

 bridge, a city which, from its numerous spires, 

 affords these birds abundance of convenient 

 lodging, they have been found a perfect nuis- 

 ance, by purloining the wooden labels used for 

 marking plants no less than eighteen dozen 

 have been taken from one nest. In the fron- 

 tispiece of Mr. Jesse's " Scenes and Tales of 

 Country Life," is a representation of a nest 

 built in the bell-tower of Eton chapel in seven- 

 teen days May, 1842. It measured ten feet 



