310 Birds. 



pretty appearance. My attention was first attracted to it by seeing j 

 bird come out of the upper part of the tree and fly away. I found j 

 small hole, that I could just get my finger in, at the spot where th< 

 bird appeared to fly from ; and this hole seemed immediately to tun 

 downwards, so that I could make nothing out. Being desirous of 

 learning more of the matter, 1 retired to a short distance, and, con- 

 cealing myself, watched for the return of the bird. 



In a short time two birds made their appearance ; one entered the 

 hole, and appeared to be pecking away the wood inside, for as it ma- 

 naged to separate piece after piece, it brought them to the other bird, 

 who remained at the entrance, and this last flew away with each piece, 

 and carrying it to a distance from the tree, dropped it in the middle 

 of the road, as if to avoid the detection which was almost certain 

 to follow if the chips had been carelessly dropped at the foot of a tree 

 in a frequented thoroughfare. 



On the 12th of May, a boy having discovered the place, from the 

 bird flying out at the moment he was passing, broke open the tree and 

 took the nest, which contained eight eggs. I passed shortly after- 

 wards, and had a good opportunity of observing the wondetful work 

 which these little creatures had accomplished. It will perhaps assist 

 my description if I give diagrams of three sections of the tree, made 

 in different directions, two of them vertically and the third horizon- 

 tally, (see p. 309). At the end of the short hole by which the birds 

 entered, was a large cavity containing an old nest, where the young 

 birds of a preceding year appeared to have been raised, and from the 

 back part of this was a small round aperture leading to a second ca- 

 vity, equal in size to the first, and evidently newly excavated ; in this 

 the eggs and nest of the present year were found : the passages and 

 cavities were all finely worked, and as smooth as if done by the hand 

 of man. Section a is cut lengthwise through otie of the cavities only ; 

 section h is cut at right angles with a, and shows both cavities ; and 

 section c, cut horizontally, also shows both cavities and the passage 

 which connected them. I have no doubt that the birds were working^ 

 at the inner or new apartment when I first observed them. 



I subsequently found another nest of these birds in an old sycamore 

 tree, which, although containing only a single apartment, appeared 

 to have been occupied many years. It required a carpenter's axe and 

 much labour to get at this. 



As a proof of the extraordinary places sometimes selected by these 

 birds as situations for their nests, I may mention the following. An 

 earthen bottle was placed on the garden wall of Mrs. Chorley, of Bol- 



