64 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



their wings as they add to the uproar, until one, 

 overbalancing, nutters to the ground, clutching and 

 napping. More than one brood appears to be reared, 

 for the herons are still about their nests in July. 



In parts of the country where the Raven still exists, 

 as amongst the fells of the north and west or the cliffs 

 of the south coast, the birds may be seen at the 

 beginning of March, or even earlier, carrying sticks 

 and other nesting materials to the favoured site, which 

 is usually tenanted year after year. A hardy outlaw 

 is the bird of Odin ; in Wales we have often found the 

 hen bird sitting while snow-drifts still lay in the hollows 

 and icicles hung from the rocks. By the middle of 

 the month the Common Buzzard (" common " no 

 longer save in wild hill-districts beyond the limits 

 of game preserving) begins to bring sticks and small 

 branches to its nest. 



Meanwhile, nearer home, in lanes, shrubbery and 

 garden, nesting is in full progress. The Mistle Thrush 

 places its large, untidy nest in a low fork of some 

 orchard tree. Careless of concealment, it seems to 

 trust to its powers of vituperation to guard its treasure, 

 and great is the outcry if magpie or prowling cat 

 approaches. In the laurels the Song Thrush is round- 

 ing off with a smooth lining of touchwood, cemented 

 with cow-dung, the structure which we know so well, 

 soon to contain four or five of the blue, black-spotted 

 eggs, so common and yet so fair to see. The Robin 



