REMOVAL OF EGGS AND OF YOUNG. 
841 
eggs or their young, or both, when disturbed, to a place of 
greater security; thus, at page 334, we have instanced the case 
of the Ring- Dotterel, and we know, on good authority, that 
the Pheasant will, in like manner, when alarmed, carry off 
her eggs, and form a new nest, hut with respect to the Wood- 
cock also, the fact may he considered to he established on the 
authority of other competent witnesses, who had had repeated 
opportunities of ascertaining the point, in other parts of 
Scotland, where Woodcocks frequently breed. It is pro- 
bably, indeed, more commonly adopted by birds than we 
suspect ; it has been noticed in the case of the Ring-tailed 
Glede (Falco cyaneus ) ; and the following account from 
eye-witnesses hears similar testimony to the power of the 
Owl. 
A friend of ours had taken a brood of young Owls, and 
placed them in a recess on a barn-floor, from whence, to his 
surprise, they soon disappeared, and were again discovered in 
their original breeding-place. Determined to solve the mystery 
of this unaccountable removal, he placed . them on the barn- 
door, and concealing himself, watched their proceedings, 
when to his surprise he soon perceived the parent birds 
gliding down, and entwining their feet in the feet of their 
young ones, flew off with them to their nest. To confirm the 
fact beyond a doubt, the experiment was often repeated, in 
the presence of other witnesses. We have also on record a 
remarkable instance of Nightingales removing their eggs 
under peculiar circumstances, communicated by Mr. Merveaux, 
of the French Academy of Sciences. A pair of these birds 
had built their nest in his garden in the lower part of a hedge, 
containing four eggs, when some water in the neighbour- 
hood rose with such impetuosity as to inundate the garden. 
Mr. Merveaux watched the Nightingales with some anxiety, 
and one day when the water had reached to within six paces 
of the nest, he only perceived two eggs. He at first thought 
that the nest had been abandoned, hut coming to it very soon 
after, he only saw one, and this time he waited to see the 
result, and was much astonished to see the last egg disappear 
with the birds, which, flying cautiously but rapidly, carried it to 
