NESTS AND EGGS. 
useful purpose of training some future Cuvier or Linnaeus to 
enlighten the world; and let us add, we shall endeavour to 
attain our object harmlessly — “ the act shall please we without 
hurting she ” — for we shall deal generously, plunderers though 
we be, with the feathered owners of the nest. 
The preparations for a bird-nesting expedition are few and 
soon made : a game-bag of some kind, with boxes strong enough 
to protect the eggs collected from being crushed, lined with 
cotton- wool or moss. 
Once clear of streets and houses, we can hardly go astray. 
Here is the common ; flocks of sparrows harbour in the hedges, 
keeping up their incessant chatter ; a little farther off, linnets 
and chaffinches ; and the lark is already carolling high in the 
air; the hedge-sparrow also shuffles along; slightly raising 
and shaking its wings, it hops away very quietly and rapidly, 
till it gets among the roots of the brambles, where it feels 
secure. There is a nest in that bush, from which the bird has 
gone with such a sudden rush ; it is a linnet, as you may see 
by her rapid and undulating flight, which she executes in a 
curved line by alternate risings and fallings. You want a 
Linnet’s egg ; and as there are only four in the nest, they are 
fresh. Well, take two of them, — not a very severe case of 
robbery, and the alarmed mother evidently dreads greater 
ravages. The nest is vely neatly constructed of blades and 
stalks of grass, mixed with moss and wool, and lined with the 
fur of various animals, sometimes mixed with thistle-down, the 
breadth being about four inches. The eggs (fig. 16), of which 
there are usually five or six, of an oval form, three-quarters 
of an inch long, and about half an inch in their thickest part, 
are of bluish white, slightly spotted with brownish grey and 
red, the spots thickest at the larger end. 
It is a gratuitous piece of cruelty to rob the bird of all the 
eggs, and usually leads to the nest being deserted. It is a 
still more barbarous practice to shoot these small birds, except 
when they are wanted for some useful purpose connected with 
science, or at least with the rational intention of making a 
collection; and it may be doubted if a jury of birds would 
accept even that excuse for murdering one of their number. 
The Yello whammed is widely distributed, and especially 
abundant in wooded districts, although it does not usually 
select the thicket for nidification; for the nest is usually 
placed on the ground, under a bush, or among the roots of the 
willow, overhanging a brook, or among its twigs. The nest is 
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