THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



71 



roach is extremely useful as a scavenger. 

 Id not live if it were unable to find food, 

 armth, and moisture, and it eats up the 

 matter which would otherwise decay. When 

 nanage our dwellings better, the cockroach 

 not be able to find food and may then die 

 aving fulfilled the purpose of its life, 

 times the cockroach leaves the warm kitchen 

 oes upstairs ; and why ? He does not do it 

 mt any purpose — he must have some object 

 Well, in the bedroom you sometimes 

 nsects — not cockroaches, but quite as flat, 

 with an equally bad odour, but happily not 

 so large — called " Norfolk Howard?," and 

 is nothing the cockroach prefers to these. 



they go upstairs it is upon a hunting 

 lition. 



;ts and eggs of our 

 common birds. 



By S. L. Molsey. 

 SWALLOW KIND, 

 amnion Swallow is also called the Chimney 

 ?w, because one of the places where it builds 

 st is said to be the inside of chimneys, — a 

 urious place indeed, and one where we 

 think the young birds would not get much 

 air. Although this is stated to be the place 

 the nest is generally situated, yet among the 

 hundreds and thousands of swallows which 

 seen in various parts of England, I never 

 le either enter or come out of a chimney, 

 ) far as I can remember, even perched on a 

 y; and I do not believe that in the north 

 2[land at any rate, this is the general rule- 

 We so, I think the birds would not be so 

 s they are, and that, some time or other, I 

 have seen them in the act of entering or 

 out. I have seen many of their nests, 

 kre composed of mud and straw, lined with 

 3, but they have always been in a barn or 

 ise, placed on the top of a cross beam, or 

 i porch. There habits must thus vary in 

 t parts of the country, and I should be glad 

 readers would observe, and let us know 

 ult through the pages of the " Young 

 ALIST," for it is a question worthy of our 

 it n, to decide whether it is a general habit 



of the Swallow to build its nest in the inside of 

 chimneys. The eggs are white, spotted, mostly 

 at the large end, with red brown. I need not 

 describe the nest of the Martin, everybody is 

 acquainted with these mud structures. The Sand 

 Martin excavates a hole in some sand bank, and 

 makes a very loose nest of hay and feathers at the 

 far end. They are generally found in colonies, 

 and I have seen sand banks literally riddled by 

 these small birds, sometimes in moderately hard 

 red sandstone. The Swift makes its nest in 

 church towers, or under the tiles of houses. It 

 seldom lays more than two eggs. The Swift is 

 the largest British representative of this genus. 

 The eggs of the three last are pure white. The 

 Nightjar, though not strictly speaking a swallow, 

 may be classed under the same head. It simply 

 scoops out a hollow place among dry grass or fern, 

 and lays two eggs of a bluish-white tint, blotched 

 and shaded with gray. 



DOVES. 



The eqes of all the Doves are pure white, and 

 they only lay two before beginning to set : very 

 seldom three. The nests are made of sticks, very 

 loosely put together, being, in fact, a mere layer 

 of loose twigs, hardly sufficient to prevent the 

 eg r > from being seen from underneath. The Ring 

 Dove is the largest as well as the commonest. 

 The nest is placed in a tree or tall bush, and the 

 eggs are rather larger than those of a common 

 dove-cote pigeon. The Stock Dove is not so 

 common ; it is smaller, and without the white 

 patches on each side of the neck. The nest is 

 placed in the hollow of an old tree trunk, or some- 

 times in a rabbit burrow ; the eggs are smaller 

 than those of the Ring Dove, rounder, and rather 

 more polished. The Rock Dove frequents sea 

 cliffs, like those at Flamboro' Head ; the nest is 

 placed in a crevice of the rock, or on a ledge. It 

 also builds sometimes in caves or rocks somewhat 

 inland. I have never taken the eggs myself, but 

 the position of the nest, and the blue dappled 

 appearance of the wings of the bird, will at once 

 distinguish it from the Stock Dove. The Turtle 

 Dove is the smallest of the British kinds, and is 

 only found in the south of England. The nest is 

 placed in a tree or bush, very often a tall holly 

 bush. The eggs are very small, compared with 

 other doves, not being larger than those of the 

 blackbird . 



