24 BRITISH BIRDS. 



and, finally, a good accumulation of Wood-Pigeon's and 

 cock Pheasant's feathers. This is a curiously beautiful 

 nest, and it is further peculiar owing to the fact that only 

 one patch of the snowy vegetable down showed up in the 

 final lining. Number three is composed of grasses, roots, 

 and a few twigs, lined with hair, down, and a few small 

 feathers, whilst in its lowest foundations I unearthed 

 a strip of decayed wood, a dead leaf or two, and a few 

 spiders' cocoons. The fourth exhibits a good deal of very 

 green moss over the usual fine grass stems and flowers, 

 as well as a few pieces of grey lichen, and the padding is 

 of horsehair, down, and a sprinkling of feathers, including 

 those of a Tawny Owl and Partridge. The vegetable 

 down is a characteristic of and is never absent from any 

 nest, and is frequently woven into its foundation. An 

 average nest measures 3| inches across by 2| deep, with 

 an egg-cup 1| in diameter and lj in depth. Should wet 

 weather prevail during nest-building, many a home is 

 deserted, because so waterproof is the padding of down 

 that in some cases the nest actually holds rain for a short 

 time, and in exceptionally severe storms this is an un- 

 looked-for calamity which overtakes nests holding eggs 

 or young. 



Incubation, which frequently commences with the first 

 egg laid, is principally performed by the female, and lasts 

 from twelve to fifteen days. 



The Lesser Redpoll is usually a very close and intrepid 

 sitter. Sometimes I have stroked one or even lifted it 

 bodily off its eggs, but more usually it slips off the nest 

 when an intruding hand is within an inch or two of it. 

 I have known one to perch on the hand of the man who 

 was examining the eggs ; and I have seen another return 

 and nestle down into the fork from which there had just 

 been taken the nest ; whilst you can fearlessly remove 

 a nest from its site and replace it after examination without 

 causing desertion. 



The nest is not a very easy one to discover. To find it 

 usually means long and hard searching in a spot where the 



