1906 Birds. 



ficulty, but the efforts of the little builder to bend down the arch formed by the rising 

 of the middle were in vain ; for, whenever the pressure was removed, it persisted in 

 maintaining its elasticity. The baffled bird glanced about, as if in contemplation of 

 the difficulty, and seemed ready to receive any suggestion which might be offered, till, 

 tired of watching the invariable result of so many efforts made in vain, the observer 

 walked on. Returning an hour or two afterwards, the little architect was observed to 

 have resorted to the only plan which could be effectual : he had left the ends free, 

 which thus projected a little from the mortar, and the structure was complete at last." 

 — p. 215. 



Aristocratic Taste of the Rook. — " The situation of the nest of the rook is, more 

 than that of any of its natural family, a matter of taste ; its position never being found 

 wild in the woods, although the whole colony, in very stormy weather, will quit the 

 ordinary roosting-trees to resort thither for shelter. The association of these birds in 

 the neighbourhood of a human habitation is clearly not, in the first place, for pro- 

 tection ; for however quick the feathered races are to discern a friendly feeling in the 

 human race, a cottage, though surrounded with trees, has no power to attract them, 

 while an aristocratic mansion in the Gothic style of building is irresistible ; and a rook 

 has been known to occupy a tree not higher than twenty feet from the ground, rather 

 than remove to a distance from so dignified a neighbourhood ; though there was no 

 bond of attachment arising from long association of affection, for the building in its 

 present condition is of no remote date." — p. 213. 



Peculiar Trait in the Goldcrest. — " The little goldcrest {Regulus cristatus) is a timid 

 creature, and yet it will sometimes approach so near to a man as to appear indifferent 

 to his presence ; but this absence of apprehension seems to proceed rather from the in- 

 ability of its organs or its imagination to comprehend such a mass and mountain of 

 being as a man while standing still ; for if he put himself in motion, the bird flies 

 away in a fright at its utmost speed. When this pretty diminutive bird is on the 

 branch of a tree, if you strike the body of the branch with a stick or stone, though at 

 some distance from the twig on which it is perched, the shock brings it at once to the 

 ground, and it may be taken with the hand ; when, if time be allowed it, the bird soon 

 revives, and may, if you are humanely disposed, be again restored to liberty." — 

 p. 203. 



Habit of the Guillemot. — "I have watched with much interest the proceedings of 

 this bird when capturing the stragglers of a school of young mullets (probably Mugil 

 chelo), and the admirable skill with which their dispersion was prevented, until a full 

 stomach had been secured. It is the nature of this bird, as well as of most of those 

 birds which habitually dive to take their prey, to perform all their evolutions under 

 water with the aid of their wings ; but, instead of dashing at once into the midst of 

 the terrified group of small fry, by which only a few would be captured, it passes round 

 and round them, and so drives them into a heap ; and thus has an opportunity of 

 snatching here one and there another, as it finds it convenient to swallow them ; and 

 if any one pushes out to escape, it falls the first prey of the devourer." — p. 192. 



Habits of the Cormorant, Shag and Loom. — " It is amusing to observe the proceed- 

 ings of the cormorant, shag {Pelecanus carbo and P.graculus), and the looms (Colymbi), 

 in dealing with the refractory subjects which they sometimes fish up in the course of 

 their researches under water. If the prize be a crab, it is taken to the surface, and, 

 fully aware of the danger of attempting to swallow it whole, it is there dropped, and a 

 smart peck of the bill is made at the legs. These are either knocked off by the blow, 



