30 BOMBAY DUCKS 
pot, hoping that the birds would continue the construc- 
tion of the nest. But they quickly discovered that 
something was wrong, held a consultation, and came to 
the conclusion that the foundations were shaky, so built- 
a second nest on a sound leaf. 
As soon as the nursery is ready, three, four, or five 
diminutive eggs are laid in it. The tailor-bird, like 
several other species, lays more than one type of egg. 
In this case there are three varieties : those with a white 
background with red blotches, those whose surface is 
white and but faintly speckled with red, and those 
which have a blue background blotched with red. 
This presents a difficult problem to those who believe 
that birds’ eggs are coloured so as to render them 
inconspicuous, I am unable to share this belief. In 
nine cases out of ten, eggs are conspicuous objects in a 
nest, and, even if they were not, it would be difficult to 
persuade me that a bird, which habitually devours the 
eggs of other birds, which is, so to speak, a professional 
egg-stealer, would, when it has once discovered a nest, 
be deceived into thinking it were empty because its 
contents were inconspicuously coloured. 
When a burglar has broken into a house he does not 
at once leave it because he does not see the silver on 
the dining-table. Nor does an egg-stealing bird which 
has discovered a nest leave it without first carefully 
scrutinizing the interior. Instinct teaches birds to 
build their nests in hidden places, and if, in spite of 
this, the nest is discovered, it is then too late to think of 
saving the eggs. 
The case of those birds which do not construct nests, 
