and being unable, amongst the smoke and dirt of a town, to 

 procure the white lichens which in its own green fields it had 

 been accustomed to do, it substituted in their place small 

 pieces of white paper. Those birds which, from the large 

 size of their nests, are prevented from thus concealing them, 

 have recourse to other means of protection. The Hawk, the 

 Crow, and the Magpie, place theirs in places difficult of ac- 

 cess ; the nest of the latter being defended besides by a roof 

 of thorns, which are not easily penetrated. 



That there are several instances in which the eggs of birds 

 are admirably adapted to and closely resemble in colour the 

 ground upon which they are deposited, I have frequently 

 found, much to my annoyance, when in search of them ; and 

 these are just the instances where such protection is most 

 necessary, and where contrasting colours would lead to their 

 detection ; and amongst those birds which make little or no 

 nest, depositing their eggs, for the most part, upon the bare 

 ground, or the shingle of the sea beach, and leaving them un- 

 covered on the least alarm. Of these are the Ring Dotterel, 

 Oyster Catcher, the Sandpipers, Peewit, and the Terns, espe- 

 cially the Lesser. Amongst the other ground builders, their 

 protection consists in the careful and constant assiduity with 

 which they are covered by the parent bird ; and more so in 

 the adaptation of their feathers than their eggs, to the sur- 

 rounding surface ; as the dull and very similar colouring of 

 the females of nearly all the Duck tribe, of the hen Pheasant, 

 and the Grey Heii, (Tetrao tetrix,) so strongly as they 

 are contrasted too with the brighter colours of their mates, 

 (which do not assist in incubation,) will illustrate most 



