76 
HINTS ON CAGE-BIRDS. 
conspicuous a nest as that of our Blackbird, is frequently quite 
invisible to the casual observer ; but this I have repeatedly proved 
to be the case. In many instances tho experienced birds’-nester may 
point out a nest even to an otherwise keou-eyed naturalist, or to a 
man who has spent his whole life in the open air, and he will not 
only fail to see it, but will positively assert that it is only a bunch 
of leaves. 
Curious Site fob a Robin’s Nest. 
Photographed by Mr. A. Wright, Oundle. 
In proof of the last statement, T may mention that on 7tli May, 
1884, when walking through a Kentish wood with a young farmer, 
I pointed out a Wren’s nest in the middle of a mass of dead leaves 
which had lodged in a mass of brambles ; he was positively rude in 
his contempt of iny supposed over-sanguine imagination ; he did not 
recognise, as I did, the artistic formation of the entrance hole ; and, 
in spite of himself, was afterwards startled into an expression of 
wonder that I should recognise a nest covered w r ith leaves and 
apparently forming part, of the mass, whereas, he who had lived in 
the country from his infancy, had passed it by without even a 
suspicion ; that nest is still in my collection. 
