THE CRUDEST NEST FORMS 67 



home of another bird, as we have already seen, or, as 

 is the case with the Merlin, for example, build a 

 slightly more elaborate nest. This latter bird sur- 

 rounds the usual hollow with a ring of twigs. It is 

 worthy of remark that nearly without exception the 

 other groups (such as Vultures, Eagles, Hawks, 

 Buzzards, Kites, etc.) contain species that build 

 more or less elaborate nests, some of them, be it 

 remarked, of enormous size and strength. Then, 

 again, the nests of many of the Owls are crude in 

 the extreme. As we have already pointed out, not 

 a few species in this group are either entirely nest- 

 less, or annex the deserted homes of other birds. In 

 the majority of the remaining instances, the nest is 

 crude in the extreme, a mere hollow lined with food 

 refuse. Even such species as the Snowy Owl that 

 breed in the open make no elaborate provision for 

 their eggs, laying them in hollows, trampled down 

 in the soil or moss on the ledges of cliffs, or on some 

 convenient hillock upon the wide expanse of tundra. 

 The great Eagle Owls make a very similar provision 

 if they do not annex the deserted nest of some other 

 bird. In fact, throughout the entire group of Owls 

 (numbering, broadly speaking, about two hundred 

 species), we find the same conditions prevailing — all 

 being either nestless, annexers, or builders of some 

 of the very crudest forms of nest. Not only do 

 these remarks apply to the Owls (Striges), but they 

 are equally appropriate to the species in several 



