84 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the smallest ones becoming so by pushing them down towards the 
narrow part. This was not, however, the case with a corre- 
sponding number of spruce-cones that I tried, for though they 
were larger than the largest of those of the Scotch fir that I 
could find, and filled the hole more completely than they did, 
still the fit was not so good, nor the cone so secure. Yet I could 
find no Scotch fir-cone which quite filled the mould. This cleft 
was at a greater height than any I had yet seen (an inch or two 
higher from the ground than the length of my walking-stick 
camp-stool, which would be about three feet). There was no 
heap of cones, nor did I find spruce-cones strewed with the 
others near the trunk, but had to fetch them. 
(2) On another Scotch fir were three such niches, at different 
heights, of the same shape, but not so well made, and in the 
highest of these—the height of my chest from the ground—a 
small Scotch fir-cone, not more than one-third of the length of 
its niche, was squeezed tight and firm towards the narrower, 
downward-pointing end, with the apex up—.e. against the 
shape of the frame. The other groovings were lower, but the 
lowest over two feet from the ground. No heap and no spruce- 
cones that I could see. 
(3) Another Scotch fir had three large spruce-cones lying 
close to its trunk, with others some yards off, but all, it seemed, 
must have been brought. In the trunk of this tree, however, 
I could find no cleft. There was no heap. It is, however, 
possible that these cones had belonged to felled trees which had 
been removed, for there was a huge débris of shavings of the 
inner bark. Yet I could not make out that this had been the 
case. The fellings seemed to have been of Scotch firs. 
(4) On another Scotch fir, at about the same height, there 
was a quite small and roughly-shaped cleft—not so deep—into 
which a correspondingly small cone of the tree stuck, when I 
placed it there, very well. No heap. One spruce-cone, which 
must have been brought, lay near the trunk, and this was well 
pecked, from the base to near the middle, on one side. 
(5) A Scotch fir in which was a long, narrow grooving of a 
foot, or near that, in length, its base being nearly three feet from 
the ground. Here no attempt seemed to have been made to 
approximate the shape of the groove to that of a cone, yet a 
