I3I 
A YEAR’S NESTS. 
IRDS’ nests are, on the whole, perhaps the most beauti- 
ful work of nature. They are so e.xquisitely constructed, 
the eggs in them are of forms so symmetrical and hues 
so lovely, that he who does not admire them must be a 
creature devoid of soul — 
“ The motions of whose spirit are dull as night. 
And his affections dark as Erebus.” 
It is a pity that in these days of urban life so few have an 
opportunity of properly studying birds’ nests. To do this one 
must not only live in the heart of the country but must possess a 
garden of tolerable size, where they can be observed at leisure. 
Those who dwell in towns must be content with collections 
in museums, and may think themselves fortunate if they are 
within reach of the Natural History Museum at South Kensing- 
ton, where the nests and eggs of the principal British species 
are represented with wonderful accuracy and artistic effect. 
Owing, probably, to the mildness of the previous winter, 
there were more than the usual number of nests in our garden 
last summer. Blackbirds and thrushes were of course the 
earliest builders, and these began their operations long before 
the deciduous trees were in leaf, one of their favourite sites 
being a large rhododendron clump on the lawn. By April the 
nesting season had really set in, and almost every w'eek brought 
a discovery of some beautiful structure of linnet, chaffinch, or 
greenfinch, besides rarer kinds, with some of w’hich — to our 
shame be it said — we were unacquainted. As regards these latter 
we did not get much enlightenment from gardeners or rustics. 
Country people are indeed — as pointed out by Mr. Hudson, 
in his delightful book Birds in a Village — singularly ignorant in 
the matter of bird life. They recognise broad distinctions, but 
are apt to confound different branches of the same family. 
Every finch is to them a “ chaffinch,” and every tit, a “ tom- 
tit,” while they know nothing of the goldcrest, the fly-catcher, 
or the blackcap. One nest that puzzled us was a tiny structure 
made almost entirely of a substance resembling coco-nut fibre. 
The bird, unfortunately, deserted it when only one egg was 
laid, so we could not see what the young ones were like. The 
nest that perhaps interested us most was that of a great tit built 
in a barrel under a lean-to, near the potting shed. The barrel 
was nearly full of stakes, and the tit had built in a vacant space 
between them, not far from the bottom. The nest was not 
discovered till the eggs were hatched, and the people had been 
passing and repassing the lean-to daily, and even removing stakes 
from the barrel, without frightening the hen bird. We now often 
looked into the barrel, and could dimly descry various little fluffy 
things with wide open yellow beaks, embedded in the mass of 
