BIRDS? NESTS. 253 
really quite unconscious. It has even been put forward 
that the colours of their eggs are intended to deceive ; 
and those of the dotterel, laid on the open beach, are 
often mentioned as an instance. The resemblance of 
the dotterel’s egg to a pebble is no greater than the 
resemblance between many eggs laid in nests and peb- 
bles. If the whitethroat eggs were taken from the nest 
and placed among particoloured pebbles such as are 
common on some shores, it would need care to distin- 
guish: them. If the dotterel’s eggs were put down 
among grass, or even among the clods of ploughed land, - 
they would be equally difficult tu find. You might as 
well suppose that the whitethroat is aware that nettles 
will sting the human hand approaching its nest as that 
eggs are especially adjusted in colour to deccive human 
eyes. As for deceiving the eyes of those birds that are 
fond of eating eggs, the thing is impossible ; the size of 
the egg is alone sufficient: how conceal an object of 
that size from an eye that can distinguish insects ? 
The egg takes its chance, coloured or not. Sportsmen 
would be very glad if pheasants would. kindly learn by 
experience, and lay eggs of a hue invisible to the poach- 
ing rook or crow. Nor is this nest, that seems so slender 
and so delicately made, really so slender to the bird it- 
self To a man or woman, so many times larger than 
the nest, its construction appears intricate. Suppose a 
lady stands five feet four inches high, and the nest 
placed in her hand measures two inches across: the 
difference is immense. The bird who built it is smaller 
than the nest. The thing is reversed, and it does not 
look tiny to the bird. The horsehair or fibre, which to 
us is an inch or two long, to the bird is a bamboo or 
cane three or four feet in length. No one would con- 
sider it difficult to weave cane or willow wands as tall as 
himself. The girls at Luton perform much more difficult 
