2Q2 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



and marine islands are the special resorts of oyster- 

 catchers, terns, and petrels. 



(11) — Cliffs have a great bird population — rock-pipits, 

 martins, falcons, cormorants, gulls, and auks. 



(12) — Sea-caves are the nesting-places of the chough and 

 the rock-dove. 



Among the various sorts of nests may be mentioned : — 



Rocking or waving nests, like that of the reed-warbler, 

 which is attached to stems of reeds that sometimes bend before 

 the wind, while the hatching bird sits light in the very deep 

 cup she has constructed. 



Pendant nests, of which our best example is that of the 

 golden-crested wren. 



Domed nests, of which we have several, as those of the 

 dipper, the chiffchaff, the wren, and the long-tailed tit. 



Fortified nests, of which the magpie builds an excellent 

 one, composed without and roofed above with thorny twigs 

 that tear the intruder's hands. 



Adapted nests, resembling their surroundings, as that of 

 the dipper, which looks like a moss-covered stone in the river 

 bank, and that of the long-tailed tit, studded with the same 

 lichens as grow on the branch where it is built. 



Floating nests, like those of the grebes, formed of aquatic 

 weeds in the shallow water. 



Some birds, like the long-eared owl, lay in the deserted 

 nests of other birds. 



Instances have often been noticed in which the chaffinch 

 has built near the nest of the mistle-thrush, a strong neigh- 

 bour which chases away the thieving magpie from the vicinity 

 of her home, and thus defends the chaffinch too. 



You are doubtless aware that the cuckoo lays in the nest 

 of some small bird, depositing one egg in each nest, and does 

 not rear her own offspring. What follows is remarkable. 

 The unsuspecting foster-mother hatches the cuckoo's egg with 

 her own, which it often resembles in colour, and from which 

 it does not differ greatly in size. The young cuckoo is hatched 

 blind and naked, but the day is hardly over before it feels for 



