Some Bird Architects. 



decorated bowers and runs of the Australian Bower- 

 birds. 



Of British birds which have retained the primitive 

 architecture of the first platform nest built amidst the 

 branches of the trees we may take as typical examples 

 the Wood Pigeon, Heron, and Crows ; while the Magpie 

 shows a considerable advance in the use of sticks and 

 clay. The Wood Pigeon, or Ring Dove, makes the 

 merest apology for a nest : it consists of a loose, flimsy 

 platform of sticks scantily lined with a few finer twigs, 

 and upon the primitive platform cradle the bird lays its 

 two glossy, pure white eggs. The nest of the Turtle Dove 

 is very similar, and built in much the same situations, 

 though the bird shows a preference for tall bushes and 

 hedges at a height of six to ten feet from the ground ; 

 while the Wood Pigeon will build almost anywhere in 

 the branches of trees, tall shrubs, and bushes. Now 

 the white eggs of the Wood Pigeon and the Turtle 

 Dove are most striking and deeply interesting excep- 

 tions to the practically general rule among eggs laid in 

 open nests in trees and bushes, or on the bare ground ; 

 for these are always tinted all over and spotted, streaked 

 or blotched with deeper colours, so as to render them 

 less conspicuous, and consequently less likely to catch 

 the eye of egg- destroy ing animals. It is only amongst 

 birds which nest in holes and excavated chambers 

 that pure white eggs are the rule. What, then, is the 

 meaning of this apparently flagrant defiance of a natural 

 protective law on the part of the Wood Pigeon and 

 the Turtle Dove ? They are certainly not imbued with 

 greater courage or provided with more effective 

 weapons of defence than other nest-building birds. 



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