BIRD NESTING. iiS 



example, two-thirds of the way up in a spruce fir, on an island in 

 the Malar. And of all the birds that one would least suspect of a 

 habit of tree-nesting, surely the waders — Plover, Sand-pipers, &c. 

 — are the most conspicuous. And yet the Green Sand-piper, who 

 comes to us on passage in the spring and autumn, habitually 

 nests even in old squirrels' dreys, in the nests of thrushes, jays 

 and wood pigeons, at a height of some thirty-five feet from the 

 ground. 



There are exceptions to every rule ; and although the lovely 

 little Golden-crested Wren almost invariably builds its exquisite 

 nest so that it hangs swaying underneath the end of a yew or fir- 

 tree bough, a case may be cited here in which these birds built, 

 two years running, against the trunk of a big chestnut tree, like 

 any spotted Fly-catcher. 



Everyone knows the Fly-catcher's nest, and everyone loves the 

 bird that builds it. Occasionally it builds its nest in behind a bit 

 of partly-separated bark, and the Tree-creeper does the same. 

 And yet I have known a pair of Tree-creepers that, during many 

 consecutive years, were at immense pains to fill up the fork 

 between the two main trunks of a double arbor vitae. I think they 

 must have carried into that crack enough chips, moss and bits of 

 pampas grass to fill at the least a gallon measure. 



Marvellous is the power and persistence shown by the Wood- 

 peckers in the drilling of the holes for their nests. But they are 

 not very wise, for they leave all the chips lying as they fall, to tell 

 the story of their labours. Every year they make a fresh hole. 

 The old nests they use as sleeping places, unless they are here 

 forestalled : for the little Nuthatch, which is quite capable of making 

 a hole for itself, and often does so, has a way of appropriating the 



Q 2 



