io6 THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE 



Long-tailed Tit, or the mossy home of the gay 

 Chaffinch, without expressing admiration at such 

 splendid homes made by a pair of birds, each tiny 

 portion of the wonderful structure representing a 

 separate journey. 



There are many hedgerow-nesting birds, such as 

 the Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Yellow Bunting, Song 

 Thrush, Blackbird, and others, whose habitations 

 need not be specially detailed, excepting to call 

 attention to the shallow nest of the Bullfinch, 

 composed mostly of fibrous roots, and the deep 

 structure of the Song Thrush, lined with mud 

 and rotten wood. 



Rooks, Crows, and their relatives, as well as 

 several birds of prey, resort to the same nest year 

 after year, the homestead undergoing a sort of 

 Spring-cleaning. The Sparrow Hawk rarely builds 

 a nest of its own, taking possession of the disused 

 homestead of a Jay, or some similar bird, whilst 

 the thievish Magpie contrives to guard the entrance 

 to its citadel by arching in the top portion with 

 thorny sticks. 



The Mute Swan makes a huge nest of various 

 kinds of aquatic herbage, and this is necessary 

 when one remembers that the green eggs are about 

 the size of a small Rugby football. 



Seabirds which resort to the rocky portion of our 

 sea-girt coast rarely build a nest at all, and in this 

 connection one may mention the Guillemot, which 



