266 A Mixed Brood.


much per hundred, and retail them at so much a dozen, there is

no doubt the wily native will continue to net them in thousands

rather than bother to seek for something less easy to capture.



A MIXED BROOD,



Holes and cavities being in great demand among certain

species of our wild birds, there is often a dispute for possession

of some particularly eligible nest site. As far as my observation

goes, if eggs have already been deposited, and the intruder

wins, the eggs are either ejected, or, if that is impossible, the

victor buries them under the foundations of her own nest, and

rears her brood on the top of the pile.


In a case that came under my notice last year, neither of

these courses was followed. For several seasons a pair of Red-

starts had occupied one of my nest-boxes fixed to the stem of

an elm tree. L,ast summer, after the Redstart had laid two eggs,

it was noticed that a Great Tit was in possession. Whether any

misfortune happened to the Redstart or whether there was a

fight, and the Great Tit proved the conqueror, I cannot say :

anyhow, the Tit added three of her own to the two Redstarts'

eggs already in the box, and reared the whole mixed brood. The

five young birds were seen when full grown and on the point of

leaving the nest. This seems to me worth recording. From

the unusually small clutch laid by the Titmouse, it may be

supposed that she had already lost her first nest.


This is not the only case that I have known of a small

clutch of Great Tits eggs' laid under unusual circumstances.

Four or five years ago I knew of a Great Tit which laid four

eggs in an old Blackbirds' nest in a yew tree, after lining the

open cup, as usual, with hair and feathers, and in that case, too,

she reared the brood. W. H. St. Quintin.



