The Nests on Traquair House. 5 7 



will presently confine our attention to one single nest, and, by so 

 doing, I flatter myself that I shall win your admiration for these 

 birds, and that you will agree with me in thinking that if we all, 

 men and women, boys and girls, had only their persevering spirit, 

 and their courage under adversity, there would not be so much 

 unsuccess, either at school or in life, as is now, too often, the case. 



Some people are very fond of having martins about their 

 houses, under their eaves, and even in the corners of their 

 windows. The Earl of Traquair was one of these ; he was, 

 indeed, a great lover of all kinds of birds, and all were pro- 

 tected on his premises. In the autumn of 1839, there were no 

 less than one hundred and three martins' nests on Traquair 

 House — which is a very fine old place — besides several which had 

 been deserted, injured, or taken possession of by sparrows, 

 which is a very unwarrantable liberty taken by these birds. 



From six to twenty days are required to build a martin's nest. 

 If all goes on well it may be finished in the shorter time. 



Let us now see how the birds set about building. Here are 

 several nests in our picture ; and turning to the pages of Macgil- 

 livray's "British Birds," I shall find exactly the information 

 we need. I will, therefore, extract freely from this interesting 

 writer, that my young readers may be as grateful to him as I 

 am myself. 



Again turning to our picture, we find four nests. " A party of 

 eight martins arrived here on the ist of May. As this was 

 quite a new location, they spent the whole day in examining the 

 eaves of the house, the corners of the windows, and the out- 

 buildings. By the following morning the question was settled, 

 and they had, as you see, fixed upon a high wall with a slate 



