46 



THE YOUNG NATUKALIST. 



or forty pairs building their nests at the same 

 place. This union is, no doubt, caused 

 partly by the attacks to which the Osprey is 

 subject from the White-headed Eagle, which 

 robs it of its prey after it has captured it, and 

 as the Osprey has been known to unite in 

 bands to drive the eagles away, they probably 

 keep together for that purpose. 



Nest- — The nest of the Osprey is never 

 far from some sheet of water, either the sea 

 or an inland lake. It is placed in a tree, on 

 some rocky pinnacle, or on the topmost part 

 of some old deserted ruin. Most of the 

 Highland Lochs have at one time or other j 

 been graced by the presence of an Osprey's j 

 nest. It is an early breeder, commencing to j 

 build in March or the beginning of April. 

 The nest is an immense pile of sticks, some j 

 of which are of considerable thickness, with 

 softer material, such as sea-weed, grass, or 

 turf for the inside ; unless the birds are dis- 

 turbed the same nest is made use of year 

 after year, and as it is repaired, and additions 

 made to it every year, in time it becomes | 

 large enough for the materials to fill an 

 ordinary sized cart. It is not unusual to 

 find the nests of smaller birds built among j 

 the sticks which compose the Osprey's nest. 



Eggs. — Three eggs are generally laid, and 

 should be looked for during the latter half of 

 May, They are of a yellowish white, more 

 or less spotted with dark purplish brown, 

 forming blotches, or a zone, or completely 

 covering altogether the large end. Two of 

 the figures (pi. i ; i, fig. i and 2) are taken 

 from specimens received by a collector in 

 this neighbourhood from the late J. H. Dunn, 

 of Stromness. 



Varieties sometimes occur with the spot- j 

 color almost or entirely covering the ground, < 

 and the egg then appears of different shades 

 of red-brown. Such a variety is admirably 

 figured in " Oothica Woolyana," from a 

 specimen taken in East Bothnia, in 1854, 

 which I have taken the liberty to copy into 

 this work (pi. iii, fig. 3). The eggs of this 

 species are very variable. 



THE FOUR SEASONS: 



A Story from the Book of Nature. 

 By Lucy Fern. 



Chap. III. 



A WALK TO THE FOREST. 



'• Come," says Spring to her two sisters, 

 who were busy with her in the garden, " let 

 us take a walk up into the forest, the wind is 

 rather chilly, but the sun is breaking out, 

 and it will be warmer in a little while, we 

 shall take no harm on that account, and a 

 walk in the morning air is bracing and 

 healthful. Hear ! the lark has begun to sing, 

 and the missel thrush has been tuning his 

 notes for some weeks, yonder is one sitting on 

 the very topmost branch of the tree, pouring 

 forth his sweet melody," and so saying the 

 three at once began to prepare, and were soon 

 strolling across the heath which led to the 

 forest. 



'• Here, look along this bank," said one of 

 the young girls, " what pretty yellow flowers ! 

 they all come up out of the earth, and not a 

 leaf to be seen anywhere, how curious ! " 



" Yes," answered Spring, " I know all 

 about those, I have often seen them in similar 

 situations, the plant is called Coltsfoot, and 

 the leaves will come Up afterwards, when the 

 flowers are beginning to die down. But see, 

 here is one with its head drooping, as though 

 it were sickly, what is the cause of that, think 

 you ? Dig down to the root, and you will 

 see," and, scraping the earth away, they 

 found that the thick root-stem had been 

 hollowed out by a small pink larva, and 

 taking it in her hand Spring explained that 

 this little caterpillar had eaten the inside of 

 the stem, which caused the flower to droop 

 in the manner it did. The caterpillar would 

 produce a beautiful little moth, known to 

 entomologists by the name of Halonota Brun- 

 nichiana. "But see. here is another of these 

 flowers, with the petals drawn together by a 



