16 EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 



fully hatched a brood, in the cartridge-box of a 

 cannon which was fired twice daily in the Gun Park at 

 Woolwich. It is a notable fact that in some parts of the 

 country Sparrows build extensively in trees, whilst in 

 others such a circumstance is unknown. Some ornith- 

 ologists are of opinion that it is an hereditary habit, 

 others supposing that it is resorted to for the sake of cool- 

 ness in hot weather; but a reason I incline to is that in 

 parts of the country where houses and out-buildings are 

 made of stone the birds find ample accommodation in 

 joints, crevices, and crannies where the mortar has been dis- 

 lodged, and are therefore not driven to the necessity of 

 adopting trees, like birds found in districts where the 

 houses are made of bricks, consequently closer, and afford- 

 ing less opportunity for nest-building. This bird, besides 

 its noted pugnacity, is an arrant rogue, and invariably 

 takes advantage of the House Martin's labour. I have 

 known a house with twenty nests all close together under 

 its eaves, about half of which were occupied by Sparrows, 

 which had, in some eases where the nests were new, been 

 actually watched ejecting the eggs of the original 

 owners. 



The Robin is noted for its caprice in the selection of a 

 nesting site, and has been found hatching its eggs in 

 nearly every conceivable situation, from the ordinary mossy 

 bank to the pocket of a gardener's old coat which had 

 been hanging undisturbed for several weeks in a tool- 

 house. Old kettles, water-cans, inverted plant pots, &c., 

 in buildings close to machinery in daily motion, and other 

 equally curious places, are by no means rare occurrences. 

 A case is recorded of a Robin's nest having been built in 

 the hole made by a cannon-ball through the mizzen-mast 



