CHAPTER XIII. 



ON THE NESTING OF BIRDS IN WILTSHIRE. 



OF all the interesting questions connected with bird life, there 

 is not one which, in my opinion, excites our admiration and 

 astonishment so much as the building of the nest. All the 

 details connected with the preparation of that receptacle for 

 the eggs, and which shall afterwards serve as the nursery for the 

 young brood, show such marvellous skill that we stand amazed 

 as we consider them. Let us take the familiar case of the nest 

 of the common Rook ; awkward enough, and inappropriate as 

 we should suppose, and unwieldy are some of the sticks which 

 we see carried off in the bird's bill to the top of some_lofty elm; 

 but the foundation of the nest must be firmly fixed indeed, 

 buffeted as it will assuredly be, and swayed to and fro, by the 

 equinoctial gales of spring ; and yet these awkward sticks are 

 somehow placed so securely as to defy the fury of the tempest, 

 and enable the nest to ride out in safety the persistent assaults 

 of the high winds of March. If man were to try his hand at 

 building a Rook's nest, and if he were provided only with the 

 materials and the implements which those birds use, I think he 

 would utterly fail in completing a structure which should answer 

 the required purpose and withstand the blasts of wind to which 

 it would be exposed. But the birds, inheriting the instincts of 

 their ancestors, know how to arrange the sticks so securely that 

 they build a firm foundation, and upon it, little by little, prepare 

 the nest which shall conveniently and safely shelter their eggs 

 and afterwards their young. Or take the case of the common 



