1902-1903.] 101 



mountains year after year, and if one be shot the other brings 

 a new mate next season; and even when both birds are shot 

 another pair is found subsequently to use the old nesting 

 site. Even the guillemot is found to deposit her egg, differing 

 in colour from others next hers, in the same spot on the cliffs. 

 The intelligence of birds is shown by their selection of a suit- 

 able breeding-place, and the conditions of a suitable breeding 

 site are the vicinity of a food supply, sufficient comfort, and 

 comparative security. To attain security most birds attempt 

 concealment of their eggs; but many build their nests openly 

 in places more or less inaccessible to men and quadrupeds. I 

 may name the following various situations in which our native 

 birds breed : — 



(1) — Roofs and chimneys are used by the starling, jack- 

 daw, swallow, and martin. 

 (2) — Tall trees by the rook, sparrow-hawk, and heron. 

 (3) — Branches and bushes by the majority of the song 



birds which build most elaborate nests. 

 (4) — Herbage on the ground is the home of the lark, the 



duck, and the snipe. 

 (5) — Burrows under ground are used by the wheatear, 

 saijd-martin, kingfisher, sheld-duck, puffin, and petrel, 

 while hollow trees and holes in rocks and walls are 

 nesting sites of the creepers, tits, stock-doves, tree- 

 sparrows, and barn-owls. 

 (6) — Many birds nest, or lay without a nest, on the bare 

 ground, as the nightjar, the plovers, and terns. 



(7) — Among shingle and gravel are placed the eggs of the 

 ringed plover and the little tern, without any nest. 



(8) — Moors and mountain wastes are the breeding haunts 

 of the hen-harrier, the golden plover, the curlew, and 

 sometimes of the lesser black-backed gull. 



(9) — Marshes and lakes are much frequented by water- 

 rails and coots, by various waders, ducks, and grebes. 



(10) — Islands in lakes are the favourite home of the above 

 and of the reed-bunting and the black-headed gull; 



