Nidification of Birds. 11 



gence ; but the Jackdaws, which had commenced building in the steeples 

 of St. Ann's and St. Mary's, two churches in the vicinity, pilfered the 

 sticks they brought as fast as they were supplied, till, at last, the Rooks, 

 wearied with fruitless exertions, deserted the spot, and sought a locality 

 better adapted to their purposes. 



In the summer of 1823, a pair of Spotted Flycatchers built a nest in a 

 aird-cage, which had been left, wth the door open, suspended from the 

 branch of an apple-tree, in the garden belonging to E. Turner, Esq., 

 situated in the township of Crumpsall. In this nest the female laid three 

 eggs, but forsook them in consequence of the repeated alarms she expe- 

 rien".ed from the frequent visits of the younger branches of Mr. Turner's 

 family, who were attracted to the spot by the novelty and singularity of 

 the occurrence. 



A pair of Chimney Swallows, in the summer of 1824, built a nest in a 

 hole, from which a brick had fallen, under the eaves of a house at Crab- 

 lane, in the chapelry of Blakeley. It consisted of a breastwork of mud, 

 erected about two inches within the aperture, leaving a space for entrance, 

 and the interior was lined with hay and feathers. The female deposited 

 and incubated her eggs in this nest, and the nestlings, when about half 

 grown, by their pressure against the breastwork of mud, broke it down 

 entirely. The parent birds, without attempting to re-build the breast- 

 work thus injured, immediately began to construct another, rather lower 

 than the former one, quite at the entrance of the hole ; affording their 

 youngj by this sagacious proceeding, a more ample space than they en- 

 joyed before, combined with a much greater degree of security. 



The familiarity of the Redbreast is a matter of almost daily observation 

 to those who are engaged in rural pursuits. In the month of June, 1825, 

 a pair of these birds built a nest in a small saw-pit, situated in Crumpsall. 

 Soon after the female had begun to sit, the sawing of timber was com- 

 menced at this pit, and, though the persons employed continued their 

 noisy occupation close to the nest every day during the hatching of the 

 eggs and the rearing of the young, yet the old birds performed their seve- 

 ral parental offices to their progeny without interruption, and apparently 

 without alarm. 



Ornithologists are aware that House Sparrows frequently deprive the 

 House Martins of their nests, and, fitting up the interior after their own 



