ON BIRDS’-NESTING. 
75 
back of the hood. Resting the latter on the earth, you overpin.it 
with two or three long stoat wire staples, then, just in front of the 
arch, at its centre, drive into the earth a strong forked crutch. Cut 
a supple apple-wand, stick the upper end under the front of the iron 
lioop and through the net, bring it back over the crutch, then forwards 
to behind the inner hoop of apple-twig, in such a way that the iron 
hoop is held quite a foot, and the apple-hoop about an inch and a 
half above the ground. Now scatter crumbs underneath and await 
results ; if there are Starlings about you will be astonished. 
CHAPTER XIV. 
ON B I R D S’ - N E S T I N G. 
These hints would not be complete without a chapter upon birds’- 
nesting, inasmuch as it is the duty, and should be the desire of 
every student of British cage-birds to know the life-history of his 
pets. As regards foreign birds, he can to some extent take up this 
branch of the subject, by watching the inhabitants of his aviaries ; 
but to do this with all the British cage-birds would necessitate the 
construction of many and large aviaries, enclosing shrubs and even 
good-sized trees. 
Unfortunately for the birds’ -nester of the present day, the law 
regards him as a mild sort of criminal if he wanders over the 
country taking nests or eggs freely wherever ho finds them, so that, 
unless he comes upon them on his own land, or (by permission) on 
that of a friend, he is liable to be fined and deprived of his treasures. 
In my birds’-nesting days this was not the case, although threaten- 
ings of the coming trouble were in the air. 
It was in 1871, when on an expedition after butterflies and 
moths (which were to my disgust extremely few that year), that 
the idea of collecting birds’ eggs first entered my mind, and was 
put in practice. Although quite a novice at the art, 1 was fairly 
successful ; indeed, so much so, that I was encouraged to continue. 
I soon discovered that such books as Hewitson’s, though useful to 
the experienced collector, were of little value to enable one to 
identify the numberless varieties in the form, colouring, and 
markings, of some of even the most familiar of our British birds’ 
eggs. This fact tempted me to set to work upon a book illustrating 
all the more striking forms which came to my notice, and thus 1 
started upon my first ornithological book — “ A Handbook of 
British Oology.” 
To those who have never tried, the discovery of birds’ nests seems 
a very simple matter ; they imagine because they see many old nests 
in the trees and shrubs in the winter after the fall of the leaf, that 
therefore it must be quite easy to find these same nests in the 
summer. It would doubtless surprise them to be told, that even so 
