NESTS OF BIRDS. 19 



Teach him a sympathy to feel 

 For nature, for the general weal. 

 Grave this a lesson on his heart; 

 May he the precept wide impart, — 



founded in mistake. The Blackbird's nest, although it belongs 

 to the same genus, is a very different one, and has nothing re- 

 markable in it, except that it is plastered within with clay, over 

 which some fine straw or dry grass is laid. The usual situation 

 of a thrush's nest is behind some ivied tree ; sometimes, how- 

 ever, it is found in bushes, particularly of thorn; 1 have seen a 

 thrush's nest in a yew-tree. The blackbird seems to prefer the 

 thorn for its nest, particularly if it happens to be growing over 

 water; it prefers, too, that part of the bush which is least ac- 

 cessible. 



The Goldfinch's nest is composed exteriorly of white moss, 

 interiorly of light coloured wool and hair; it is one of the neat* 

 est of our English bird's nests. The goldfinch, during its nidi- 

 fication, is a very domestic bird ; it appears to prefer a garden 

 near a dwelling-house to almost any other spot for its nest. It 

 builds either on young elms, to which it is particularly partial, 

 on an apple, a pear tree, or a cypress. If not disturbed, it will 

 build sometimes so low that you may look into the nest; and, 

 during incubation, you may pass within a few feet of it without 

 its evincing the least alarm. 



The Chaffinch builds a neat nest, although not so neat as that 

 of the goldfinch; its habits are also in many respects similar; it 

 prefers gardens and apple-trees, but is not choice in the site for 

 a nest. It will build on fir-trees, against a wall on a grape- 

 vine, on apple and many other trees, but rarely, if ever, in 

 hedges. 



The Magpie's nest is similar in its lower exterior to that of 

 the rook and the crow, but it is covered over with thorns, so 

 that access to the interior can only be had by two open spaces, 



