DR. THEODOR NEUMANN. 14^ 



place on the surface of the earth that does not find favor 

 with some bird intent on building a home for himself 

 and family. On rugged, precipitous cliffs, inaccessible 

 by any other way than by winged flight, near or even 

 on the water, in forest, field and meadow, on trees and 

 within the underwood, in the reeds of the swamp and in 

 caves hollowed by the forces of nature after many thou- 

 sand years of work, everywhere nests may be found and 

 nest-builders observed, busy at work to complete their 

 task. 



From the numberless examples of strange localities 

 observed since men began to study bird-life, only a few 

 can be selected, rather at random. The Kensington 

 Museum in London contains a stuffed owl on the back 

 of which a swallow had built its nest; and a statement is 

 added that when the owl, which was found in the garret 

 of some old house, was removed and taken to the 

 museum, the man who brought it was asked to put an 

 old lady's bonnet in the place of the owl. The following 

 year the swallow built its nest in that, and the latter is 

 likewise found in the museum. 



A robin (Enythacus rubecula) has been known to 

 make its nest in a workman's tool-basket hanging against 

 the wall, in a fold of the window-curtain, upon a shelf 

 in a green -house, in the side of a saw-pit, in a knot-hole 

 of timber used in a ship which was being built. At Fort 

 William the room above the pantry was occupied as a 

 bird stuffing apartment ; a redbreast visited it daily and 

 was often expelled. The owner, finding expulsion of no 

 avail, for it continued to return, had recourse to a novel 

 and rather comical expedient. He selected the most 

 fierce-looking animals and placed them at the open 

 window, which they nearly filled up ; the redbreast, how- 

 ever, was not so frightened "from its propriety," but 

 made its "entree" as usual and finally chose as nesting 

 place the head of a stuffed shark which hung on the wall. 



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