NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



in the Western Isles may be gathered 

 from the fact that I have found no fewer 

 than seven nests in the course of a zig- 

 zag walk of a mile or so from the house 

 of one friend to that of another. As an 

 indication of the wide variety of sites 

 chosen by the Mountain Linnet — as the 

 bird is sometimes called — for its little 

 home, I will mention the places in which 

 I discovered the above-named nests. Two 

 were in holes in a dry stone wall, the one 

 containing eggs, figured in our illustration, 

 at the top of a stone wall and sheltered 

 by a piece of overhanging turf, which had 

 been placed there to increase the height 

 of the fence ; one in a tuft of heather 

 growing close to a half-buried rock ; one 

 in a furze bush where a Common Linnet's 

 nest might have been expected ; another 

 in a stunted gooseberry bush ; and the 

 last in an ivy geranium growing inside a 

 small greenhouse, to which the birds 

 gained entrance through a broken pane 

 in the roof. On more than one occasion 

 I have found a nest, containing eggs or 

 young ones, under an overhanging tuft 

 of grass growing from a crevice of rock 

 on the small piece of North Lhst Coast 

 shown in the tailpiece to this article. 

 A Twite's nest sometimes takes a long 



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