Some Foreign Bird Architects. 



nests in a hole in a tree, but on occasion will, it would 

 seem, depart from this general rule and construct a 

 nest entirely of mud. Such a nest, composed of mud, 

 and built into the side of a haystack, was presented 

 some years ago to the British Museum by Mr. Bond, 

 together with the following interesting particulars : 

 " I have received this summer from the neighbourhood 

 of East Grinstead a nest built by a pair of Nuthatches, 

 which is so remarkable in its construction, and in the 

 site selected for it, that I think a notice is worth re- 

 cording. It is well known that the Nuthatch almost 

 invariably makes use of a hole either in a tree or wall 

 in which to deposit its eggs, and is not, in the strict 

 sense of the word, a nest-builder. In this instance 

 a haystack was selected, and the birds, by pulling out 

 a quantity of hay and plastering up the hollow with 

 mud brought from a considerable distance, formed a 

 nest of similar construction to that of a swallow, but 

 very much larger, with an entrance hole near the top, 

 and the ends of the hay stems neatly embedded in the 

 mud." The nest had been built at a height of five 

 or six feet from the ground, and the birds first attracted 

 the attention of some farm labourers who observed 

 them pulling the hay from the stack. This the Nut- 

 hatches continued to do until they had formed a large 

 opening, and not until this gap had been formed did 

 they commence building with mud, which had to be 

 carried from a point some one hundred and fifty yards 

 distant from their strange nesting site. The labour 

 occupied a considerable time, the farm hands stating 

 that they had watched the birds at work upon the 

 construction of their nest for quite six weeks. This 



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