Part III. 



NESTING BOXES, Etc. 



"I3ERHAPS the first mention we find of providing 

 nesting boxes for wild birds is that quoted in 

 Yarrell's " British Birds," 4 Edit., Vol. IV., p. 491, 

 referring to the system by which the natives of 

 Swedish Lapland and the North of Europe collect 

 the eggs of the Goldeneye Duck (Fuligula clan- 

 gula) and other birds by inducing them to lay in 

 boxes. This account is taken from the " Lachesis 

 Lapponica " of Linnajus where he says of the 

 Goosander (Mergus inerganser) : " The person that 

 waylays the bird for her eggs places against a fir 

 or a pine tree, somewhere near the bank of the 

 river a decayed trunk with a hole in its middle 

 the bird enters and lays her eggs in it ; presently 

 the peasant comes and takes away the eggs, leaving, 

 however, one or two. The bird returns and finding 

 but a single egg, lays two or three more, she is 

 again robbed as before — but a few are left at last 

 for the increase of the family." 



