On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 557 



prepare a very elaborate structure, which exhibits no little 

 architectural skill on the part of the artificer. I would instance 

 first the doomed nests of the Common Wren and the Willow 

 Warblers: what warm, snug habitations for their young ; how well 

 protected, how cleverly constructed for shelter and concealment, 

 how softly lined ! Or see the neat, trim nest of the Chaffinch ; how 

 admirably finished off' with its lichen adornments, which serve to 

 impart a resemblance to the branch on which it is placed ! What 

 consummate skill does this compact, pretty nest evince! Mark 

 again the well-constructed nest of the Golden-crested Regulus, sus- 

 pended beneath the branch of some yew-tree or spruce-fir: what a 

 charming receptacle for the smallest eggs we know in the British 

 Isles ! And as a climax of perfection of architectural ingenuity, let 

 me point to the oval nest of the long-tailed Titmouse, with which 

 nothing else can compete for efficient shelter and warmth, as well as 

 for the less substantial virtues of beauty, symmetry, and finish. 

 These are but samples of the various nests which we find around us, 

 and, as we examine them carefully, we cannot fail to be astonished at 

 the excellence of their workmanship, and at the perfect adaptability 

 of each to the object for which it was intended. How the several 

 species succeed so well in producing nests exactly resembling 

 those of their respective ancestors is an interesting question on 

 which I will not here enter. Whether it be by reason, or by instinct, 

 or by hereditary habit, or by imitation, has been discussed at 

 length by advocates of each theory, and to their arguments I would 

 refer my readers.* 



And now I come to the interesting question of the colouring 

 of the eggs. As a rule, those which are not exposed to sight, 

 but are placed in holes in trees, or house roofs, or in banks or in 

 the ground, are either white or so faintly tinted as to be ap- 

 proaching to white, as, for example, those of Owls, Wheatears, 

 Starlings, Woodpeckers, Wrynecks, Kingfishers, Martins, Swifts. 

 With others, again, the colouring of the eggs assimilates in some 



* See especially Wallace's 'Natural Selection,' pp. 211-231; Darwin's 

 ' Descent of Man,' vol. ii., pp. 166-182 ; an admirable chapter by Mr. Charles 

 Dixon, ' On the Protective Colour of Eggs,' in Introduction to vol. ii. of Mr. 

 H. Seebohm's ' British Birds ;' and Canon Tristram in Ibis for 1867, p. 74. 



