THE YELLOW-HAMMER 
He is not a shy bird, and during all seasons of 
the year he may be found in garden, farmyard, field 
and moor. One favourite haunt of his is a rough 
waste overgrown with prickly gorse or whin, and 
there his nest may often be seen. Sometimes it is built 
on the ground, and once an unfortunate mother- 
bird made her nest in a rut, where she, sitting on her 
eggs, was crushed to death by the wheel of a waggon. 
More often it is placed among briars and 
brambles some distance from the ground ; at other 
times in a thick hedge, and occasionally in a fir-tree 
at the edge of a plantation. It is made of moss, 
small roots, and sticks, and lined with dried grasses 
and horsehair. 
Even though her nest be destroyed, the Yellow- 
Hammer will continue to build in the same spot time 
after time. One Yellow-Hammer was noticed to 
have established herself on the edge of a gravel path, 
and there she laid and hatched four eggs. Owing 
to the dangerous spot she had chosen, three of her 
nestlings were killed, and then a kind friend moved 
the nest to a sheltered nook some distance away. 
The faithful little mother followed, and safely 
brought up her fourth and only remaining child. 
